Vows to Hold Biden Administration Accountable on Muslim Inclusion, Civil Rights, Racial Equality, and Just Foreign Policy
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization CAIR, today congratulated President-elect Biden on his victory and encouraged the incoming administration to promote civil rights, racial equality, a just foreign policy, and the inclusion of American Muslims in diverse government roles.
SEE: Joseph R. Biden Jr. elected 46th president of the United States
CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo said:
“It has been a long, hard, four years for our community and all Americans. Donald Trump has taken every opportunity to target Muslims, immigrants, and so many others. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter, one where we can begin to heal and rebuild. Today is a repudiation of bigotry, hate, and violence. Our work is far from complete, but today we celebrate. We look forward to President-elect Joe Biden fulfilling his campaign promises to reverse the harms of the Trump administration, beginning with the Muslim Ban.”
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“CAIR congratulates President-Elect Joe Biden on his electoral victory, and for building an inclusive election campaign focused on the unity of our nation. President-elect Biden has pledged to end the Muslim Ban on his first day in office, include Muslims at every level of his administration and address issues of racial and religious discrimination. We plan to join other American Muslim leaders and organizations in ensuring that the Biden administration fulfills these promises. We also plan to continue holding our government accountable when it errs.”
Awad said the American Muslim community is a key resource for state and national policy-makers, and is urging Congress and President-elect Biden to enact and implement the following civil rights reforms:
- Ending bigoted and discriminatory immigration policies such as the Muslim and Africa travel bans, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, “extreme vetting programs”, and the detainment of asylum seekers;
- Mandating state and local law enforcement to report use-of-force incidents to a federal database as a condition of receiving federal funding and requiring equal treatment of the American Muslim community by federal law enforcement and the criminal justice system;
- Defending Constitutional rights in schools, the workplace, and elsewhere by supporting the adoption of new policy strategies to address religious-based bullying in schools by state and federal departments of education, and protecting Middle Eastern studies courses and Palestinian student activists from the Department of Education’s attempts to suppress free speech on college campuses;
- Supporting faith-based initiatives by ensuring American Muslims equal access to federal and state aid available to those impacted by COVID-19, requesting HHS provide more funding to American Muslim clinics, and providing greater capital access for faith-based communities, including American Muslims;
- Establishing equity in federal government hiring practices, including the overhaul of vetting systems that rely on biased Islamophobic resources and the promotion of Muslim-American ideas and employment;
- Ending the national security overreach by reforming the unconstitutional Terrorist Screening Database, rejecting new domestic terrorism statutes, and defunding DHS anti-radicalization initiatives biased toward the Muslim community, including the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grant program, and its predecessor, the Countering Violent Extremism grant program.