A look into some recent complaints received by CAIR’s Northern California offices:
- A married couple was relaxing at home when they received a phone call from someone claiming to be a “Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations” officer. The person on the line demanded the couple agree to pay a large sum of money or the sheriff would be coming to their house within the hour to arrest them. The couple frantically called CAIR for help. A CAIR staff attorney talked the couple through the situation and informed them that this was a common scam effecting the American Muslim community. The CAIR attorney also spent some extra time educating the couple on what steps to take if law enforcement ever did come to their home. By the end of the call the couple had calmed down and felt empowered to assert their rights if needed in the future.
- A sister who wears hijab was working retail when a customer came to her register, gave her a dirty look, and then walked to the next register over. The sister over heard the customer tell the other cashier that it was his birthday. Even with his rude treatment she politely wished the customer a happy birthday as he left. The customer turned around, said “you just reminded me, I forgot to buy ammo for my gun,” and made a gun gesture with his hands aimed at her. Unfortunately this was just the latest in a string of Islamophobic encounters the sister had experienced at this store. Despite this, she was afraid of reporting the behavior to human resources (“HR”) out of fear of retaliation. A CAIR attorney explained to the sister her rights as an employee and helped empower her to complain to HR about the Islamophobic abuse she had been receiving. After receiving her complaint, HR took proactive steps to prevent future Islamophobic behavior in the store, and banned the latest customer from the premises.
To file a civil rights complaint or seek assistance, please contact CAIR-SFBA by calling 408.986.9874 or completing this form.