CAIR-CA Published 2015 Civil Rights Report

Reported California Anti-Muslim Bias Incidents Doubled Between 2013 and 2014

(ANAHEIM, CA, 7/2/2015) – The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-California) today published the CAIR-California 2015 Civil Rights Report, which shows that reports of anti-Muslim bias incidents almost doubled between 2013 and 2014.
 
The report summarizes and analyzes all civil rights complaints received in 2014 by CAIR-California’s offices in the Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA), the Sacramento Valley (CAIR-SV), San Diego (CAIR-San Diego), and the San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA).
 
A total of 1,136 incidents were reported to CAIR-California over the course of 2014 and included complaints involving: employment discrimination, federal law enforcement questioning, excessive and intrusive travel delays, hate crimes, school bullying, and other discrimination issues.
 
“This report gives a snapshot of CAIR-California’s Civil Rights work tackling anti-Muslim discrimination in 2014,” said CAIR’s Northern California Civil Rights Coordinator Brice Hamack. “We hope it informs community members and allows them to better recognize discrimination if they or somebody they know is targeted. We also hope it assists community leaders and public servants across California to adequately respond to the pressing needs of their American Muslim constituents.”
 
The report’s key highlights include:

• Reports of bias incidents nearly doubled between 2013 (63) and 2014 (115), which is attributed to public hostility generated by international acts of violence.
• CAIR-California filed two federal lawsuits last year against the United States Navy and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for severe harassment and discrimination of African-American Muslims.
• CAIR-LA’s Immigrants’ Rights Center completed its first full year of operations, assisting more than 150 people.
• Several CAIR-California offices, along with UNITED SIKHS, co-filed complaints with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) against a national amusement park company for failing to accommodate hijab-wearing Muslim women and turban-wearing Sikhs.
• The categories receiving the most incident reports were employment discrimination, hate incidents and Islamophobia, immigration, and law enforcement interactions.

CAIR-California is encouraging all Californians to gain a better understanding their civil rights and to engage community leaders and public servants in dialogue about how they can better serve the state’s Muslim community.