Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 23:49:15 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: The Young Abdullah al-Arian Incident: White House incident spotlights




http://daily.stanford.edu/daily/servlet/Story?

July 5, 2001
White House incident spotlights national prejudice

Sameer Ahmed
Guest Columnist

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Interning in the nation's capital is not as exciting as
Monica Lewinsky would want us to believe. Picture the movie "Office
Space," replace the computer scientists with ambitious political science
majors, and you'll know what I mean.

Until June 28, my roommate Abdullah Al-Arian was your average D.C.
intern. A rising senior at Duke University double majoring in political
science and history, Abdullah spent his weekdays interning for House
Minority Whip David Bonior (D-Michigan) to further his interest in law and
public service.  And after a long day at work, Abdullah, our other
housemates and I would come home and play a few games of basketball before
dinnertime.

On June 28, Abdullah did not come home for dinner. He was still at
Bonior's office answering questions from CNN, the BBC, The New York Times,
The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and a
number of other worldwide media outlets.

That morning, while Abdullah was attending a White House briefing with
members of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, a Secret
Service agent escorted him out of the meeting without any explanation.
Once Abdullah was removed, about two dozen leaders from various American
Muslim organizations walked out of the meeting in protest, sparking a
media frenzy.

The incident forced President George W. Bush to apologize the following
day, calling the Secret Service's treatment of Abdullah "wrong"  and
"inappropriate." Earlier, the Secret Service issued a statement calling
Abdullah's expulsion a simple "mistake."

A mistake? Hardly. Abdullah's only crime was that he is a Muslim of
Palestinian descent, and his expulsion from the White House was just
another example of the erroneous and racist belief prevalent across the
United States that labels Muslims, especially Arabs, as anti-American
security threats.

Unfortunately, this attitude has spread to the Bush White House. Just a
week before Abdullah's ousting, Vice President Dick Cheney canceled a
meeting with members of the American Muslim Council after the Zionist
Organization of America released a statement labeling the mainstream
American Muslim group an "extremist anti-American organization."

Perhaps the pinnacle of the anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiment in the
United States is demonstrated by the Secret Evidence Act, passed in
Congress as a part of the 1996 anti-terrorism law. The Secret Evidence Act
allows the Immigration and Naturalization Service, without providing any
proof, to arrest and detain indefinitely any non-U.S. citizen if he or she
is deemed "a threat to national security."

For example, Abdullah's uncle, Mazen Al-Najjar, was confined in a Florida
jail for three and a half years, never charged with a crime and then
finally released by Attorney General Janet Reno late last year after the
U.S.  government admitted it had no evidence to keep Al-Najjar in jail.

In addition to completely contradicting the Sixth Amendment of the United
States Constitution, the Secret Evidence Act is used as a legalized form
of racial profiling. Of the more than 20 people arrested under the act,
all but one have been a Muslim or Arab male. For these reasons, two years
ago, Bonior and Stanford Law Prof. Tom Campbell introduced House
Resolution 2121, which would repeal the Secret Evidence Act. While
President Bush claimed to support HR-2121 during his campaign - a
transparent attempt to attract the Arab and Muslim vote - the bill is
still being debated in Congress.

Which brings us back to Abdullah, who has been working with Bonior to
repeal the Secret Evidence Act. For the past week, Abdullah has felt the
benefits as well as the disadvantages of his 15 minutes of fame. On the
one hand, Muslim leaders throughout the world have been referring to
Abdullah as a Rosa Parks for Muslim civil rights in America. On the other
hand, some news organizations have been unfoundedly linking his family to
terrorist groups.

When Abdullah finally returned home on the night of June 28 and was
getting ready for bed, I told him that, 10 years from now, he'd look back
to that day, sift through the newspaper and magazine clippings and laugh.
Yet, while Abdullah continues to be amazed by the amount of press coverage
he has been receiving, he has remained apprehensive. Abdullah says he
fears that the Secret Service's "mistake" could haunt him in the future.
But let us hope that the reverse will become true. Hopefully, Abdullah has
taught the Bush administration, which claims inclusiveness, and the
American public, which values diversity, the dangers of cultural and
religous prejudice.

Sameer Ahmed, an International Relations major and former Daily
Managing Editor, forgives Abdullah Al-Arian for being a Duke
basketball fan, his only real crime.

You can reach Sameer at sameer80-AT-stanford.edu.

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