Pakistani immigrants feel at home in rural Pa.

Akram Khalid
(Public Opinion photo by Ashley Brooks)

In a time where divisiveness and anti-Muslim sentiment grabs headlines, The Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Penn. brings a heart-warming alternative about a Pakistani couple who were welcomed by locals after moving to the small town of Chambersburg.

Amatul and Akram Khalid, along with their children, immigrated from Pakistan to New Jersey in 1990 because they were persecuted for following a minority Muslim sect. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Akram said he was one of several Muslim engineers laid off by his employer, and the family decided to start over in Chambersburg.

Amatul Khalid
(Public Opinion photo by Ashley Brooks)

The couple says Chambersburg welcomed them with open arms. "Folks were always willing to lend a hand, they were always smiling and, more importantly, they appreciated having the two in the community," Ashley Books reports. And the Khalids love Chambersburg. They love their neighbors and prefer the slower pace of life in rural America. And they love America, and cherish their freedom to practice religion as they choose.

And though people in town have become more conscious of immigrants in recent years, they still love and support the Khalids. "Even though they voted for Trump, they want to show me that they are okay with (us) and we are safe," Akram told Books.

Muslims surge across rural border to Canada, where once arrested they have to be given asylum

A family from Turkey crosses the border
into Canada (NYT photo by Todd Heisler)

Since Donald Trump was elected president, a growing number of Muslims have been illegally crossing the border into Canada, Todd Heisler reports for The New York Times. The town of Champlain, a rural corner in upstate New York known as the North Country, "just a brief detour from a major border crossing on Interstate 87, has become one of the busier illegal points of entry."

Migrants aren't worried about getting caught crossing the border. In fact, they want to get arrested, on the Canadian side, Heisler writes. "An agreement between the U.S. and Canada makes it virtually impossible for them to ask for asylum at a legal border crossing; Canadian border officials would have to turn them back. But a technicality allows them to bypass the agreement by illegally setting foot in Canada." Jean-Sébastien Boudreault, president of the Quebec Immigration Lawyers Association, told Heisler, “Once they get arrested, they’re already on Canadian soil, so we have to let them do a refugee claim.”

Chris Crowningshiele, a longtime cab driver, said until recently most of his fares in the Plattsburgh, N.Y. area were students or Walmart shoppers, Heisler writes. He said he now picks up passengers at the airport or the bus station, "and over the 25-mile drive north, they have told him that they had traveled from across the country. Some were migrants from Yemen and Turkey. They confided that they were fearful, of what was happening in the countries they wanted to leave behind—not just their homeland but now also the U.S.—and of what they faced once they stepped out of Crowningshiele’s cab."

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Crowningshiele’s taxi is one of a "steady stream of cabs" taking people to the border, Heisler writes. "This is not exactly Trump Country. In Clinton County, which includes Champlain, Hillary Clinton eclipsed Trump by 610 votes. Many residents on Roxham Road said they did not bother to vote and had followed politics just enough to feel disenchanted, if not disgusted."

Trump blamed for anti-Muslim groups tripling in 2016; anti-Muslim speakers touring rural areas

The number of hate groups in the U.S. rose last year for the second year in a row, from 892 to 917, and the number of anti-Muslim groups nearly tripled from 34 to 101, says the Southern Poverty Law Center's annual Census of Hate, which includes state-level maps and appears in its quarterly Intelligence Report.

Mark Potok, a SPLC senior fellow, argues that the rise in hate groups can be attributed to President Trump, saying "the increase in anti-Muslim hate was fueled by Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, including his campaign pledge to bar Muslims from entering the U.S." Along with the rise in hate groups there has been an increase in crimes against Muslims, with FBI statistics showing "that hate crimes against Muslims grew by 67 percent in 2015, the year in which Trump launched his campaign."

Anti-Muslim campaigns have become common in some rural areas, with speakers touring small towns. American Muslims have called Trump the "ring leader" championing mainstream hate.

Nearly 50 of the new anti-Muslim groups "are local chapters of ACT for America, an anti-Muslim activist group that claims Michael Flynn, who this week resigned as Trump’s national security adviser, as a board member," Abigail Hauslohner reports for The Washington Post. "Many of the groups the SPLC identified as part of the rise in extremist activity reject the label of 'hate group.'” (SPLC map: Hate groups in the U.S. For an interactive state-level version click here)

American Muslims say Trump has made it harder for them; hate being preached in rural areas

Former FBI agent John Guandolo giving an
anti-Muslim speech Oct. 17 in rural Warroad, Minn.
(MPR News photo by Monika Lawrence)

Is Donald Trump spreading an anti-Muslim message that is fostering hate and racism in rural America? Some American Muslims say the presidential race has been worse for them than after 9/11, because unlike in 2001, there is now a "ring leader" championing mainstream hate, as a Somali refugee in Minnesota told M.J. Lee of CNN.

"Trump has run a hard-line, anti-immigration campaign built on promises to erect a wall and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Last December, he announced a proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country," Lee reports after interviewing 40 Muslims around the nation. "Perhaps most disturbing about this election, many said, is the perception that Trump has helped to normalize animosity toward and suspicion of Muslims in the U.S. . . . He has suggested that profiling would be an effective strategy to prevent terrorism." Lee's story has no response from the Trump campaign.

Anti-Muslim campaigns have become common place in rural Minnesota, John Enger reports for Minnesota Public Radio. "North and central Minnesota have become fertile ground for traveling speakers who have built national careers spreading alarm about the danger they say Islam poses inside U.S. borders. At dozens of rural churches and schools, speakers have warned crowds about refugees and called on them to be prepared to oppose Muslims in Minnesota. This comes at a time of mounting political tension over immigration ahead of the contentious presidential election."

Former FBI agent John Guandolo, who travels the country giving anti-Muslim speeches, told a crowd in Warroad, Minn., "Are you prepared? Are you prepared for the two or three dozen jihadis in, pick a city in Minnesota, with mortars or shoulder-fired rockets? You don't think they can get those in the United States?" Another featured speaker in rural Minnesota, Usama Dakdok, also travels the country preaching against Islam, including claims that it's a cult, not a religion, Enger writes.

Mike Buffington, who owns several rural newspapers in Georgia, shared an exchange he had on Facebook with a local community member and Trump supporter who compared Muslims to rats that need to be exterminated. The poster wrote: “I have first hand dealings with muslins [sic] and can tell you what they think and how they will act when they reach a critical mass. You were raised in a rural county, but not in the country. If you ever heard of having a rat killing??? Well when rats are in numbers to be a problem you have to go out and get rid of all of them, that includes males females and all little rats, because we all know a little rats grows up to be a big rat and then the problem starts again.” Buffington wrote, "Vile. Disgusting. Deplorable.I will only identify this man as 'LP' here. He’s known in the community, a former military man and a self-proclaimed Christian. And yet he openly calls for murdering men, women and children who have done nothing wrong simply because they have different religious beliefs than he does. . . . It’s time for civilized Americans to speak out against people like LP whose soul has gotten lost in the flood of hatred that is washing over our political landscape. Silence is acquiescence. "

Anti-Muslim groups have called for stricter border security and have protested Muslim burial grounds and a proposed mosque, calling Muslims terrorists and rapists. A recent study also found that Americans, on average, think Muslims make up 15 percent of population. The actual figure is 1 percent.

Armed militia's protest threat cancels meeting that was expected to green-light Georgia mosque

A protester calling himself Johnny Infidel holds the Koran
and an assault weapon (Covington News photo by Bryan Fazio)

Officials in Covington, Ga., canceled a meeting Tuesday that was expected to result in approval of a controversial mosque, after an armed militia posted a video on social media threatening a protest, Bryan Fazio reports for The Covington News. The mosque had drawn opposition from many in the town of 600, who had called Muslims terrorists and abusers of women.

Despite cancellation of the meeting, the armed militia, Georgia Security Force III%, protested outside the meeting's location, Fazio reports: "The protest consisted of rhetoric against Islam, Muslims and the group Council on American-Islamic Relations being shouted through a bullhorn by a man calling himself Johnny Infidel, armed with an AR-15 rifle." The group's leader, Chris Hill, said at a press conference: “I’m not against freedom of religion. [The Koran] is text suggesting doing things that are not peaceful.”

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At the meeting, the Newton County Board of Commissioners "was to hear from county staff on creating a new zoning classification for large developments of community impact. Several Newton County commissioners also were expected to vote to lift a moratorium that was imposed on permits for places of worship during an Aug. 16 meeting, shortly after the mosque came to light. However, Monday afternoon the meeting was cancelled due to safety precautions stemming from the group’s social-media activity." 

County Manager Lloyd Kerr said in a statement: “In this case, a self-made video circulated on social media of a militia group from a neighboring county may have been trespassing on private property, and exhibiting harassing or violent behavior. Unfortunately in today’s society, uncivil threats or intentions must be taken seriously."

Rural Ga. residents protest planned mosque, call Muslims terrorists, rapists; say Islam not a religion

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About 600 residents in rural Covington, Ga., flocked to a pair of town-hall meetings this week to argue mostly against plans for a mosque in the town of 13,452. While some expressed concern about increased traffic and noise, most complaints had to do with perceptions of Muslim treatment of women and the notion that the religion preaches hate and violence.

"Many of the speakers straightforwardly denounced Islam for its supposed violence and extremism," reports The Economist. "They predicted that Covington was set to become a hell of violence and jihad, in which their families would no longer be safe." One speaker said, “They’ll kill Jews, Christians, anyone that don’t believe in Allah” and suggested people rip out errant pages in the Koran to prove their good intentions. Other statements included, “If you don’t believe like they do you get your head cut off,” Islam is “a death cult" and from the mouth of a female church minister, “This is not a religion."

Bryan Fazio of The Covington News reports that one speaker said, “I don’t want these people and these teachings in our community. Were you not watching your television on 9/11/ 01? Have we lost our minds? Have we lost our common sense here? I pray that almighty God fills your heart with common sense to make the right decision. Y’all represent us. Listen to us. We don’t want this here. We don’t want this here.”

Zach Ames of Covington was in the minority.
(Newton Citizen photo by Wade Marbaugh) 

Local resident Kenneth Morrell blamed plans for the mosque on destroying a pending deal he had to sell his house, Fazio writes. Morrell told him, “I would appreciate it if the media did not demonize this community because of their concern. There are a few questions I have that I would like to ask: is this mosque actually going to be opened up to the community to attend? Do they allow testimonies in their mosque? Would they be upset if I testify to the goodness of God and the grace of God? That’s church to us. Do they consider us to be old country and dumb folks without eyes and ears and brains?”

Alice Queen of the Newton Citizen reports that one speaker said, "All I know about Muslims is what the news reports stream out to us every day. They talk about ISIS and ISIS operatives, radical Islam, Islamic sleeper cells that are trying to get into our country … that’s all that we hear about Muslims, so it’s hard for folks like me, and probably most of you tonight, to draw the line between innocent Muslims and radical Muslims."

Another speaker said, “It’s not about worship. It is about a big development in our countryside that nobody knew about … If that would have happened with any other thing besides a religious organization, everybody would have known, we’ve have had a town meeting … what bothers me is I’m labeled a bigot just because I question it. That shouldn’t be.”

The Economist reports, "The basic permission for the mosque has already been granted. The commissioners have now imposed a moratorium on the construction of new places of worship, and progress could be delayed or derailed by withholding technical permits; but those sorts of ruses would likely fall foul of the courts."

Muslim immigration is not new to rural America; immigrants built North Dakota mosque in 1929

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigrants has been one of the more controversial topics of the race, especially in rural areas. While it may seem that they only recently have wanted to emigrate to the U.S., "Muslims have been part of the American mix for a long time, and not only in populous hubs like Brooklyn; Dearborn, Mich.; and Chicago’s western suburbs," Samuel Freedman reports for The New York Times. In one of North Dakota's most rural areas, outside the town of Ross, sits a mosque built in 1929 from immigrants from Syria and Lebanon. (NYT map)

"It is a modest square of cinder blocks, perhaps 15 feet on each side, topped with an aluminum dome and minarets," Freedman writes. "Several hundred yards off the main highway, on the outskirts of a town with barely 200 residents about 60 miles west of Minot, the mosque and cemetery exist much as they always have, surrounded by fields of wheat and corn and grazing lands. In this spot, all the industrial clamor of North Dakota’s fracking boom feels immeasurably distant."

"Amid a presidential campaign . . . that has coincided with a rising number of bias crimes against Muslim people and institutions, this little plot is a reminder that Muslims were here as far back as the Norwegians and Swedes and Germans and Finns and Poles and Jews among whom they settled," Freedman writes. Despite being discriminated against early on in North Dakota, Muslims have now been welcomed in Ross, with a Christian group in 2005 helping to fund replacing the mosque after it was badly in need of repairs.

Anti-Muslim immigration speakers are spreading hate and fear in rural areas

Anti-Muslim immigration speakers are active in rural areas, led by anti-immigration activists such as Ron Branstner, who tells crowds of several hundred enthusiastic supporters that Muslim refugees are coming to the U.S. "to divide and conquer, get rid of our Constitution, get rid of our way of life and implement it with another way of life called," Matt McKinney reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Branstner’s radical message, made up of broad anti-Muslim themes mixed with fears about immigration and the cost of helping refugees, is increasingly finding a receptive audience, especially in places where new immigrants are changing the face of the community." (Star Tribune photo by Jeff Wheeler: Ron Branstner speaking in Avon. Minn.)

Branstner isn't alone in spreading his message in Minnesota, McKinney writes. "From Mankato to Mountain Iron, speakers such as Usama Dakdok, A.J. Kern, Brigitte Gabriel, Cynthia Khan, Jeffrey Baumann and Clare Lopez are showing up in churches, restaurants, VFWs and community centers to address crowds and air concerns about immigrants, the Qur’an and what they see as a threat to the U.S. Constitution. Some portray Muslims as practicing a hateful religion, some say Muslims are practically duty-bound to destroy Christians. Others maintain that Muslims are working to someday take control of the U.S."

"To some, such as a Grand Forks, N.D., City Council member who invited Dakdok to speak there last fall, the talks are viewed as an exercise in free speech," McKinney writes. "But the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other groups see the message as dangerous hate speech that riles up audiences with depictions of a Christian America under threat." Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of CAIR, told McKinney, “A lot of these fears are coming from that type of general fear of the ‘other,’ and not real knowledge of Islam."

McKinney writes, "Anti-Muslim sentiment has risen dramatically nationwide in the past year, sparking protests and anti-refugee legislation in Idaho, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and elsewhere, said Stephen Piggott of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit focused on civil rights." Natalie Ringsmuth, co-founder of a Facebook page called #UniteCloud, which uses social media and conversation to bring people together regardless of their religious beliefs, told McKinney, “The people we are concerned with are people who have never met a Muslim and are nervous, and they don’t know how to separate fact from fiction at this point." (Read more)

Cultural clash rising in rural Idaho between Mormon population and Middle Eastern college students

A cultural clash has been brewing in rural isolated Pocatello, Idaho, (Best Places map) between the large Middle Eastern student population at Idaho State University that brings much-needed money to the community and a growing feeling among the large Mormon local population that the foreigners have demonstrated morally poor behavior, Stephanie Saul reports for The New York Times.

ISU, which has suffered from decreased enrollment and state funding, has welcomed students from the Middle East, who pay "$20,000 per student in annual out-of-state tuition, nearly three times what state residents pay," Saul writes. "As the number of Middle Eastern students grew to nearly 1,200, almost 10 percent of the school’s enrollment, that meant an estimated $40 million for the local economy every year."

But officials were ill-prepared for conflicts between Middle Eastern students and locals, Saul writes. "Even if they were just normal, rowdy college kids, the behavior of the mostly male students stood out in this conservative, predominantly Mormon city. Free from the strict cultural mores of their home countries, some students have faced charges like drunken driving and stalking. At the same time, professors said students, many of them unfamiliar with English, were ill-prepared and frequently resorted to cheating. Students have taken umbrage to the accusations and have recounted episodes of discrimination on campus and in town. Now some students are leaving."

While Middle Eastern students helped revive the economy in Pocatello—supporting car dealerships, restaurants and local businesses—they also brought unease on campus, Saul writes. Professors were unhappy with "extra work required of them because of the poor English skills of many students who needed help after class. Some professors also believed the students did not have the proper math backgrounds for their chosen majors: A chart sent to the faculty by one dean revealed that in some classes with more than 20 Middle Eastern students, 90 percent of them had failed physics, 75 percent had failed introductory English and more than 60 percent had failed math." That led to accusations of cheating. While some Middle Eastern students were caught cheating, others say they were wrongly labeled cheaters for being of the same ethnicity. That has caused some students to tell friends to seek education in America elsewhere.

ISU lost more than $2 million per year in tuition alone from 100 students who left last summer, Saul writes. But the school is not alone. "By some estimates, the one million international students in the U.S. generate a $30.5 billion boost to the economy. The largest group comes from China, but Saudi Arabia, the fourth-largest country of origin, supplies more than 70,000 students to schools like Arizona State, Western Kentucky, Cleveland State and Southern Illinois."

"Some of these institutions are particularly concerned about the impact of a recent announcement by the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which supports most of the students from Saudi Arabia," Saul writes. "The program is facing 'deep funding cuts,' according to Moody’s Investors Service, which said the scholarships would be limited to the top 100 American schools, an Academic Ranking of World Universities list that does not include Idaho State," which could lose another 250 Middle Eastern students in the next academic year. (Read more)

Communities largely embrace growing Muslim population in Central Appalachia, professor says

In Central Appalachian coal country that is predominantly Christian a growing Muslim population has emerged that has been largely welcomed and embraced by communities such as Pike and Floyd counties in far Eastern Kentucky, Kevin Williams reports for Al-jazeera America. "With its coal-caked hills, isolation and deep poverty, southeastern Kentucky is probably not the first place that springs to mind when one considers the Muslim experience in America. But nonetheless, a small Muslim community has settled in the Appalachians, making a home forged in the ash-black-smudged margins. Friendships are made and communities are established, even as a wider debate rages around the prejudice of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims immigrating to the U.S."

Christopher Green, an associate professor of Appalachian Studies at Berea College, told Williams that he's not surprised that Central Appalachian communities have welcomed Muslims: “Many people outside the area don’t think about it, but Central Appalachia is an incredibly diverse region religiously. You have Baptists, Pentecostal, Holiness, Catholic churches and mainline churches, there is a tremendous diversity of religious experience through Christian denominations. There is tremendous respect for people who hold religion close, no matter the denomination.”

Another likely reason: The Muslim population has helped in a region suffering from doctor shortages, Williams writes. "Yassin Khattab, originally from Syria, is the only private-practice pediatrician in the underserved area around Prestonsburg. He has over 5,000 patients from a seven-county area." When one of his nurses asked him what would happen if Trump was elected president he said he responded, “Nothing. I’ll still be here practicing medicine.” Khattab’s son Asaad, who blogs about his life growing up as a Muslim in Central Appalachia, is studying to be a dentist, and said he can't see himself practicing anywhere but Eastern Kentucky, which has a severe lack of dentists. Asaad told Williams, “I want to contribute and give back to my community. . . . The Muslims that they are putting on the news do not represent us.”

Muslims in the rural South finding southern hospitality while still dealing with racism

In the South—the nation's most rural region—"Islam is now the second-most-popular faith (behind Christianity) in every southern state except South Carolina (where, surprisingly, the Baha’i hold that accolade)," reports The Economist. "By one count, the region accounts for over a third of all the mosques in America."

"Muslims are drawn to the South for the same reasons as other newcomers, who in turn have helped to make parts of it, especially university towns such as Auburn, Alabama and Oxford, Mississippi, cosmopolitan and welcoming: the low cost of living, nice weather and professional and technical jobs," reports The Economist.

"Hospital scrubs are plentiful at Friday prayers at the Magnolia Islamic Centre in Madison, a suburb of Jackson," reports The Economist. "Tauqeer Yousuf, a doctor from Pakistan who is president of the local Muslim association, says some other residents at first tried to block the building but that 'the good thing about this country is that if you follow the rules, no one can stop you.' Another worshipper says Jackson’s religious climate compares favourably to Saudi Arabia’s. Extra police patrols safeguarded the community during Ramadan."

"Even amid current fears of terrorist asylum-seekers, many southerners are hospitable," reports The Economist. "The mayor of Clarkston in Georgia—where a mosque stands opposite a Buddhist centre and a halal butcher next to Good Times Country Cookin’—says his town is ready to accommodate more refugees. And even in Tennessee, scene of the fiercest resistance to mosque-building, the quietly tolerant outnumber the bigots."

The problem is the bigots far outweigh everyone else in volume, reports The Economist. "They include not just shock-jocks, Koran-burning cranks and small-town officials, such as the sheriff in Tennessee who recently described Islam as 'communism with a god' and worried that Muslims aimed to take over the country. Islamophobia is also widespread in mainstream southern politics, especially among Republicans. The South accounts for six of the ten states that have passed laws to prevent the application of 'foreign' (ie, sharia) statutes in court, a response to a threat that does not really exist: along with the construction of new mosques, the spectre of sharia is southern Islamophobes’ main theme."

The main targets are religion and race, hot button issues in a region that has a history of Christian ideals and slavery, reports The Economist. "The irony is that Muslims and southern conservatives are in some ways deeply compatible. It is not just the shared emphasis on hospitality. Both have old-fashioned family values and traditional attitudes to marriage." (Read more)

Western Ky. zoning board approves permit for Muslim worship center

In September, we reported that an open records request from the Courier-Journal showed a Mayfield, Ky., zoning board had been pressured into rejecting a permit to open a mosque. On Tuesday, the Mayfield Board of Zoning Adjustments unanimously approved a conditional use permit for the downtown building to be used as a place of worship, Shelley Byrne of The Paducah Sun reports. At the hearing, Heather Weaver, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, explained that federal statutes protect buildings that are used for religious purposes, adding that federal statutes superseded any city ordinances.

"Board member Don Costello made the motion to approve the permit, saying the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 seemed to require it and noting that a city ordinance did not require downtown businesses to have a specific number of parking spaces available," Byrne writes. No one spoke at the Tuesday hearing against using the building for prayers. The city had expressed concerns about parking at the building, but Weaver noted the group had met in the building for awhile before learning they needed a permit. (Read more, subscription required)

Workplace discrimination complaints by Muslims reached a record high in fiscal 2009

We reported earlier this month that JBS Swift was facing a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Muslim workers at two of its meatpacking plants. That example is one of many; Muslim workers filed a record 803 claims of employment discrimination in the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009, up 20 percent from the previous year and 60 percent from 2005, Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times reports. The number of complaints filed in the current fiscal year won't be announced until January, but with American Muslims in the spotlight, claims are expected to rise again.

"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found enough merit in some of the complaints that it has filed several prominent lawsuits on behalf of Muslim workers," Greenhouse writes, pointing to the one against JBS, one against retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and another against hotel company Four Points Sheraton. "There’s a level of hatred and animosity that is shocking," Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney of the EEOC’s Phoenix office, told Greenhouse. "I’ve been doing this for 31 years, and I’ve never seen such antipathy toward Muslim workers."

Muslims, who make up less than 2 percent of Americans, accounted for about a fourth of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the commission last year, Greenhouse reports. Claims of race, sex and age discrimination fell in fiscal 2009. The number of complains filed against Muslims even exceeds the number in the year following the 2001 terrorist attacks. "We can go back in history and find other times when there were hot emotional and political tensions over religion," Michael J. Zimmer, co-author of several books on employment discrimination and a law professor at Loyola University in Chicago, told Greenhouse. "Right now, there is a lot of heat as to the Muslims." (Read more)

Meatpacking plant faces lawsuit following 2008 Ramadan firings

In Sept. 2008 we reported Muslim workers at a JBS Swift meatpacking plant in Grand Island, Neb., had walked off the job mid-shift after complaints the company wouldn't accommodate their religious practices during Ramadan. In Sept. 2009 we reported JBS's attempt at accommodations for its Muslim workers at the facility in hopes of avoiding the previous year's controversy. But Tuesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against JBS saying the company "failed to make reasonable religious accommodations, violating the workers’ civil rights, since at least December 2007," Timberly Ross of The Associated Press reports.

The lawsuit alleges "plant supervisors and non-Somali employees also harassed the Muslim workers, 'interrupted their prayers, refused to let them pray, threw meat at them, called them names,' among other things," Ross writes. The 2008 controversy escalated after management initially altered Muslim workers' schedules to accommodate prayer time, but changed their position following complaints from other workers. JBS then fired 86 Muslim employees who walked off the job for a second time. The company later hired back 12 of the employees.

The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha seeks an order "requiring JBS Swift to provide prayer time and to refrain from retaliating against workers who ask to pray. It also seeks monetary compensation for the fired workers," Ross writes. A call to JBS headquarters in Greeley, Colo., from AP was not returned Tuesday. (Read more)

Kentucky pupil objects to teacher's anti-Islam film

A Pulaski County High School student has objected to being shown a video that depicted images of dead bodies, beheadings and bombings to illustrate its creator's opinion that the "Islamic incursion" must be stopped. Amber Cruey says she first felt hatred toward Muslims after watching the film, Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, but decided the film was wrong in its hatred of Islam after a discussion with her parents.

Sonya Wilds, an assistant superintendent in the school system, told Estep the teacher showed the film on Sept. 11 "in order to commemorate the anniversary of the terror attacks in New York and Washington and generate discussion on the dangers of extremism." The teacher was not named by the school system, but Cruey identified him as Michael Foncannon, a teacher in the Junior ROTC program. The school system says that the teacher's intentions were pure, but that the film was not proper for a class of juniors and seniors.

The fifteen minute film, Fitna, was made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whom a Dutch court prosecuted in January for allegedly inciting hatred against Islam. "Islam is not a religion. Islam is an ideology." Wilders said in an interview with the Boston Globe in March. "You keep comparing it to Christianity, Judaism. It's not. It's an ideology that wants to dominate every aspect of society. I know billions of people believe it's a religion. I don't." Jenny Sutton-Amr, executive director of the Kentucky Islamic Resource Group in Lexington, told Estep: "Islam is definitely against violence. The notion of killing innocent people ... does not have a place in Islam." (Read more)

Muslims walk out, get fired in religious-rights flap

More than 100 Muslim workers were fired from a Colorado beef processing plant Wednesday, almost a week after 250 walked off the job mid-shift over a debate on religious accommodation.

Last Friday, workers at Greeley-based JBS Swift & Co. said the company violated an agreement to accommodate their religious practices during the holy month of Ramadan. The workers claim that last Thursday, officials agreed to move their 9:30 p.m. break to 7:30 p.m., when many ended daytime fasts, but the break was cancelled without notice. Managers then worked to block restrooms and break rooms at 7:30 and harassed those who tried to take the scheduled break. The company employs hundreds of Muslim workers, mostly immigrants from Somalia.

Chris Casey of the Greeley Tribune writes, "Muslim workers said during Ramadan they fast starting at sunrise, so by 7:30 p.m., they have gone about 14-1/2 hours without food or water. A union representative said the company did not provide enough notice that those who didn't return to work by Wednesday would be fired. He said the union will file a grievance for any worker who wants to return to the plant. JBS Swift's spokeswoman said the walkout violated a collective bargaining agreement, and that the company works with the union and its workers to "accommodate religious practices in a reasonable, safe and fair manner." (Read more)

Earlier this year, Muslim workers successfully negotiateed with a Tyson processing plant in Shelbyville, Tenn., to make Eid-al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, a paid holiday off. (Read more)

Tyson, union reinstate Labor Day as paid holiday at Tennessee plant while keeping Muslim holiday

Following objections from consumers, local officials, tghe local newspaper and some employees, Tyson Foods Inc. and a union have agreed to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday at the company's plant in Shelbyville, Tenn., while keeping as a paid day off the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, which had replaced Labor Day in a recently negotiated contract.

Members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union at the poultry processing plant voted "overwhelmingly" to revise the contract, giving them nine paid holidays instead of eight, reports the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. The union represents about 1,000 of the 1,200 workers at the plant, about 250 of them Somali refugees. Employees who don't take the Muslim holiday will be able to take a paid personal day off.

Tyson said some employees "expressed concern" about the elimination of Labor Day, which gained national attention. Local elected officials also weighed in. "This is not the image we want from Tyson Foods," Bedford County Mayor Eugene Ray, who reported getting complaints from constituents, told the Times-Gazette. "Most of them think that when people come to America, they should do as Americans do, instead of Americans changing and adapting things the way they do, in language, traditions and all of that."

In a letter to the newspaper, Ray, Shelbyville Mayor Wallace Cartwright, Democratic state Rep. Curt Cobb and Republican state Sen. Jim Tracy said that substituting Labor Day 'for a non-traditional holiday is unacceptable'," Brian Mosely writes for the paper. The letter said, "For over a hundred years, Labor Day has stood as a symbol to honor the working men and women of this country. But for the past few years traditions like Labor Day have been under attack. This time it's gone too far and we, as patriotic Americans, must draw our line in the sand." While religious freedom is "a founding principle of this nation" and there is "a long tradition" of allowing worship of all types, the officials wrote, "In America we do not need to allow substitutions and exceptions to our beloved heritage."

Mosely also writes, "Ray also said that a lot of work needs to be done to help the Somalis 'get along with people, how to work with people ... and how to be kind to one another.' This is in reference to the frequent reports from the public of the refugees' 'rude and demanding' attitude that the T-G reported in the ... series published in December 2007. Ray said he is 'still working on that,' meeting with Imam Haji Yousuf, of Shelbyville's Muslim mosque." (Read more) In an editorial, the paper said the union was on "a slippery slope."

Tyson plant replaces Labor Day with Muslim holiday to accommodate hundreds of Somalis

A Muslim holiday has replaced Labor Day as a paid holiday at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville, Tenn., under the company's new contract with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The plant employs many Muslims, most if not all of them refugees from Somalia.

The new paid holiday, one of eight, will be Eid al-Fitr, which "marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting," notes Ann Bagel Stork of MeatingPlace.com. This year, the holiday falls on Oct. 1, notes Brian Mosely of the Times-Gazette in Shelbyville.

"Implementing this holiday was a challenge, since it falls on a different day every year and is declared on fairly short notice," RWDSU Representative Randy Hadley said in the union's press release. "But the negotiating committee felt this was extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians."

The press release said about 700 Muslims work at the plant, but company media-relations director Gary Mickelson "said that Somalis only represent approximately 250 of the 1,200 employed at the plant, a little over 20 percent of the workforce," Mosely reports. The company also accommodates observant Muslims' need for five prayers a day by giving all employees a seven-minute break and providing a prayer room. (Read more) Mosely recently won awards for his reporting on the Somalis' relations with the community.

UPDATE, Aug. 8: A replacement press release from the union eliminated the incorrect figure, and the company said 200 of the 1,200 workers are management and support employees not represented by the union. So, about a fourth of the union workers are Muslim. Meanwhile, some T-G readers "expressed outrage" and national coverage of the contract has made it "a hot topic of discussion on talk radio, the Internet and national TV," Mosely reports.

Company spokesperson Libby Lawson told the newspaper, "Feedback has been thought-provoking. We have received a lot of calls expressing anger and support. We are an American-based company with core values that acknowledges diversity and all faiths.We have chaplains of many different denominations in most of our plants. It has indeed made us reflective about how we negotiate with unions."

RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum declined to answer the paper's questions, but said in a statement, "There's no question that there is a lot of bigotry against Muslims and that this agreement has clearly touched a raw nerve among those who are prejudiced against them. However, the RWDSU has always understood that unions are only strong when they work to protect the dignity of workers of all faiths. That includes Muslims. Our union may be the first to negotiate this kind of agreement, but I have no doubt that others will follow our lead."

Talk-radio host's rants against all Muslims are costing his show in the pocketbook

"Another five radio advertisers have joined a growing list of companies that have pulled their ads from Michael Savage's national radio show, 'Savage Nation' . . . as a result of a coordinated campaign aimed at Savage's remarks against Muslims and other groups by organizations such as Hate Hurts America Community, and Interfaith Coalition," reports Katy Bachman of MediaWeek.

"The five advertisers, ITT Technical Institute, Chattem, Inc. (Gold Bond, Icy Hot and Selsun Blue), Union Bank of California, Intuit (TurboTax and QuickBooks) and GEICO Insurance, dropped the spots after they were contacted by visitors to the Web site http://nosavage.org. The site has audio clips from Savage's radio show as well as printed excerpts. Other advertisers that have pulled spots include Citrix, US Cellular, Sprint Nextel, Sears, Universal Orlando Resorts, AutoZone, JCPenney, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart and AT&T," Bachman reports.

"Savage, who is the third-largest talk show personality in America, has been under attack since last fall for his comments, which were made available on the Internet by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Savage responded by filing a lawsuit against the Council for violating his copyright. He's reportedly lost at least $1 million in revenue because of the advertiser boycott." His show is distributed by Talk Radio Network. (Read more)