Largest Arab American group and relationship to the law enforcement

Largest Arab American group and relationship to the law enforcement

Introduction

The relationship between the largest Arab American group and the law enforcement has been challenged since the attack on September 11. Since then, there have been dialogues between the largest Arab American group and the law enforcement for the purpose of building a good relationship between them. As a result of the dialogue, there has been trusting relationships between the Arab American group and the local authorities.

Literature review

According to Washington Report Archives, (2011), several groups have been formed for the purpose of encouraging dialogues between the law enforcers and the largest Arab American groups. The dialogue deals with the issues that concern the federal law enforcement and the affected Arab American communities. The Arab American group has experienced issues that deal with racial and religion and the dialogue brings a relief and a safer feeling.

Even before the September 11 attacks, Arab American had a group that fought for the civil rights of the Arabs. The name of the group was Arab Discrimination Committee (ADC). The group received complains from the Arabs of being harassed and also complains concerning racial profiling. After the September 11 attack the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee changed its priorities and started dealing with new issues that arose among the Arab Americans. The leader of the group, Hamad had to revise the Michigan chapter’s priorities because on September 11 he was on his way to a meeting where he was to discuss the issues of racial profiling among the Arabs at the airports. The chapter he was to revise dealt with social service groups and the civil rights of the Arab Americans.

Since then, the American Arab Discrimination Committee group started dealing with complains of discrimination and harassment among the Arabs. Due to the relationship between the large Arab American group and the law enforcement, the group received a great number of complains and most of the complaints involved the police. The Arabs in America feared massive arrests and they feared that they would be made subjects of hate for the hate crimes.

As illustrated by Brand- Williams, (2001), the leader of the Arab Discrimination Committee feared that after the signing of the anti-terrorism bill by the then President Bush, the Arab American community was to be singled out. The bill was to give the law enforcement the leeway to truck the suspected terrorists through the internet and to search their homes secretly. The bill also gave the leeway for the federal investigators to tap the telephone of the people who were suspected. The Arab Discrimination Committee had to deal with such issues and act on behalf of the Arab American community.

The group has been trying to fight for the Arab Americans and they said that the Arabs are supposed to be treated by the law enforcers like the other Americans. The group has been a voice that represents the Arabs to both the law enforcement and the public. Some of the Arab Americans have feared to speak out concerning the oppressions that they face. For the Arabs to fully open up, the Arab Discrimination Committee has worked together with the Arab community centre for social services and economic services. Public hearing has been held by the two groups and they mainly deal with ethnic profiling and the racial issues that affect Arab Americans in the airports. By dealing with the issues, they refer to it as Flying while Arab. Arab Discrimination Committee does its best in making sure that the issues that concern the law enforcement and the Arabs are dealt with in a fair manner and that the Arabs are not discriminated.

A series of conversation between the law enforcement agencies and the Arab American groups started in 1998 and it was begun by Attorney General Janet Reno. The Arab Discrimination Committee was concerned with the way the Arab American community was being treated by the federal enforcement agencies. There were cases known as the secret evidence cases and individuals from the Arab American group were being detained on evidence they could not contradict or see at the immigration courts. The meetings that were being held marked the beginning of the dialogue between the federal law enforcement and the Arab American groups.

Arab Discrimination Committee group has continued with the discussion of the importance of the challenges that have faced the two parties. Some effective measures have been used and they have proved to mutually benefit the dialogue and the interaction. The law enforcers have stated that the Arab American community has not been cooperating with the law enforcers. The human and the civil right advocates have condemned the public hearings that suspect the Arab Americans based on their religion. According to Singh, (2011), it was noted that there was a need of building a relationship based on trust for the benefit of the law enforcers and the community. A former FBI agent identified that the driver of terrorism- related crimes is not ideology but it is the radicalization concept that is used which focuses on some people based on ethnicity, religion and race and justifies them wrongly. The radicalization concept becomes destructive to the community. Complains of law enforcement practices have been received by the rights groups where the law enforcement agents have used immigration related threats to recruit informants and where they have also infiltrated the mosques.

As suggested by Johnson and David, (2003), the largest Arab American group were concerned about the anti-terrorist patrol Act and as a result they helped the Arab men who needed registration and those who had problems with immigration by creating a network of lawyers. The group has also helped the Arab American who lost their jobs after the September 11 attacks. In the course of their work, the Arab Discrimination Committee has dealt with the issues of bank accounts that belonged to the Arab Americans and the banks wanted to close them.

Conclusion

The Arab Discrimination Committee has stressed the fact that the Arab Americans are supposed to work together with the law enforcement for the assurance that the civil right laws are enforced fully. The issues that face the Arab Americans are important and most essential in the field of the civil rights. The community has to be given equal opportunities in housing, employment, education and in the government agencies interactions. This will help the relationship between the largest Arab American group and the law enforcement to be built on trust. The dialogues have been important because the law enforcement get time to listen to the issues that are raised by the Arab American groups. At the same time, the Arab American groups get an opportunity to listen to the law enforcement.

References

Brand – Williams, O., (2001), Arab Anti- Bias Group Stands on High Alert, (Online), Available from http://www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/011028_adc.html. Viewed on 14 May 2011.

Johnson, J., and David, p., (2003), American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Tackles Prejudice in Boston. Periodical. Vol. 22 Issue 6, p43, 1p,

Singh, A., (2011), Progressive Relationship between Muslims and Law Enforcement: ADC’s Hill Briefing, (Online), Available from http://www.rightsworkinggroup.org/content/progressive-relationship-between-muslims-and-law-enforcement-adcs-hill-briefing. Viewed on 14 May 2011.

Washington Archives, (2011), Arab – American Activist: Examining Law Enforcement Interaction with Arab and Muslim. (Online), Available from http://www.wrmea.com/component/content/article/365/10380-arab-american-activism-examining-law-enforcement-interaction-with-arab-and-muslim-americans.html  viewed on 14 May 2011