CAIR-Washington State

At CAIR-WA our staff and interns have always sacrificed "blood, sweat and tears" for the good of the community, so in keeping with that tradition CAIR-WA organized a fun and uplifting office-wide blood donation drive.  

On Wednesday June 1, 2011, Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari, Community Outreach Coordinator Abigail Stahl, and Civil Rights Intern Samir Junejo went down to the Puget Sound Blood Center to donate one pint of their red blood cells to help save precious lives.  

All donations went smoothly, and were followed by ten minutes of cookies and juice in order to help regain any lost energy. Most people have extra blood to give and donating it can be a great help to those in need. CAIR-WA hopes to continue to conduct office-wide blood drives in the future.

Mosques and other community organizations can always set appointments with Puget Sound Blood Center offices and donate together, or if planned ahead of time, can have a "mobile blood center" come to the location of an event.

On June 9, 2011, CAIR-WA staff and members of our speakers' bureau chatted with a class of more than 45 sixth grade girls at Seattle Girls' School (SGS). The event came about after SGS teacher Kate Peterson contacted CAIR-WA hoping to have a group of local Muslims speak to the class in hopes that the students would not form negative stereotypes about Islam after reading the book, I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. The story is the autobiography of a Yemeni girl named Nujood who is illegally married to a much older man at the age of nine, but successfully files for divorce with the help of lawyer.  

On Monday, May 23, 2010, a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf stopped at a Starbucks in Redmond with her daughter. They made their coffee stop brief, and when they returned to their vehicle approximately 10 minutes later,

they found a note on the driver's side of the vehicle, next to the door handle. The note, which was written in English in Arabic, stated, "We don't want Muslims in America." The woman called CAIR-WA the following day, to report the incident because the note had frightened her daughter.

See TV news coverage here:

• KING 5: http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington/Hate-note-left-on-Muslim-womans-car-122542849.html 
• KOMO 4: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/122542014.html 
• KIRO 7:   http://www.kirotv.com/news/28011395/detail.html  
• KCPQ 13:  http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-redmond-family-finds-hate-note-on-minvan-20110524,0,4638102.story   

While the woman admitted that initially, she did not take the note that seriously, she decided to report the incident to the Redmond Police Department and CAIR-WA when her daughter expressed fear that they might be followed home by whoever left the note on their car.

Though Imam Faisal Rauf undoubtedly drew the largest crowd at the Confronting Islamophobia conference at St. Mark's Cathedral on May 6, (Click here to view photos from his Friday evening presentation) four speakers from CAIR-WA's Speakers' Bureau also drew a sizeable audience on Saturday afternoon, May 7. The topic of the panel was "What does it mean to be an American Muslim?" and CAIR-WA Civil Rights Coordinator Jennifer Gist moderated.   

CAIR-WA was heavily involved with the planning, sponsorship, and promotion of the "Confronting Islamophobia" conference that took place at Saint Mark's Cathedral on May 6 & 7. Each staff member of CAIR-WA led at least one workshop, with panels on myths about Islam, being an American Muslim, and digital propaganda.

CAIR-WA, MAPS, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, University Unitarian Church, Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church, Eastshore Unitarian church recently co-organized a day-long conference titled "Civil Liberties in Peril."  The conference featured a series of presentations, discussions, and networking sessions designed to examine the erosion of civil liberties faced by Muslim and Arab Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and to empower attendees with tools they can use to challenge the curtailment of civil liberties and to challenge Islamophobia.  The event was held on May 21, 2011 from 8:45am to 5:15pm at the Eastshore Unitarian Church in Bellevue. 

The wonderful and talented Ameena Qazi, Deputy Director and Staff Attorney from CAIR LA, graced Seattle and CAIR WA with her presence earlier this month.  Ameena's schedule was packed for the few short days she had here, and her first engagement was at the University of Washington School of Law on May 5th. Community Outreach Coordinator Abigail Stahl and Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari worked with the Assistant Dean for Public Service & Executive Director of the William H. Gates Public Service Law Program, Michele Storms, to plan and coordinate the event.  The topic of the speech was FBI surveillance of the American Muslims, including advocacy and litigation strategies.

Early Saturday morning on May 7th, in preparation for the "Confronting Islamophobia" conference, Community Outreach Coordinator Abigail Stahl was interviewed on KEXP 90.3 FM for the morning talk show, "Mind Over Matters."

Abigail met with Mike McCormick, one of the show's hosts, who interviewed her on a range of topics, including sharing what CAIR-Washington does, the possible repercussions of Osama Bin Laden's death on the treatment of American Muslims.  She also provided an overview of the workshop she presented later in the day at the Confronting Islamophobia Conference. 

Click Here to see more on the "Mind Over Matters" page on KEXP's website.

As the beginning of spring quarter approaches, CAIR-WA is seeking spring and summer interns to join our team.  Undergraduate interns are an integral part of CAIR-WA's success, and interns currently assist in communications, civil rights, research, and government affairs. As part of these efforts, Community Outreach Coordinator Abigail Stahl has attended several job and internship fairs recruiting possible interns and sharing CAIR's work. Most recently, she hosted a table at Seattle Pacific University's (SPU) annual job and internship fair. Over 50 organizations and businesses were represented at the event, and approximately 500 students attended.

Puget Sound Sage, a CAIR-WA ally, primarily focused on advocating for laborers, hosted an interfaith breakfast on March 1, 2011 at First United Methodist in Downtown Seattle. The purpose of the breakfast was to educate various interfaith and community leaders on the campaign Sage is working on to ensure better pay for port truckers, healthier environmental standards, and more freedom for drivers. Sage has been working on the campaign for many months, and plans to continue to educate various community leaders about the many injustices port truckers encounter.  

Per invitation of the City of Seattle distributed to all 'valued community partners,' CAIR-Washington registered for the City of Seattle's 2011 Youth Education, Career, and Resource Fair on February 23, 2011. Held during Seattle Public School's mid-winter break to maximize attendance, the intent of the Youth Resource Fair was both for organizations to recruit talented youth for their programs, and for youth to gain awareness of the various organizations and resources available in Seattle. The fair attracted mostly high school students, but community college and university students were in attendance as well, and CAIR-Washington nestled in the Rainier Community Center gymnasium with roughly 70 other organizations.

Aspiring to engage in local politics proactivelyand not merely when in need of allies, CAIR-WA staff members, Abigail Stahl (Community Outreach Coordinator) and Jennifer Gist (Civil Rights Coordinator), attended Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's "State of the City" address on February 22, 2010 at Seattle City Hall. Though the City Council Chambers were full to capacity, the CAIR-WA staffers were able to find seats in the Bertha Knight Landes Room.

Mayor McGinn addressed three main areas of concern for Seattle's city government in 2011. First, Mayor McGinn discussed the importance of creating sustainable jobs for the many underemployed and unemployed individuals in Seattle. In addition to the Seattle Jobs Plan, which has delivered $32.5 million in new financing to 79 businesses, retaining or creating 630 jobs, Mayor McGinn focused on the highly lauded "green job market" as a source of sustainable work and energy efficiency for Seattle's businesses.

CAIR-WA was proud to co-sponsor the showing of the film Prince Among Slaves:  The Cultural Legacy of Enslaved Africans, presented by the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas and Seattle University Global African Studies Program, and produced by Unity Productions Foundation. The film detailed the extraordinary story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Ibn Sori, a West African prince who was taken into captivity and brought to the United States as a slave. Following the screening, Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of the late Malcolm X, spoke on her reflections about the film and answered questions.

On February 14, 2011, CAIR WA staff and two interns, along with King County Prosecuting Attorney for Hate Crimes, Mike Hogan, organized and conducted an educational forum at Seattle University School of Law on the rise of Islamophobia since 9/11 and the violence that can sometimes result from such fear.  The event was held at a weekly forum called Social Justice Mondays, put on by the Access to Justice Institute (ATJI), which is housed in the Law School. CAIR-WA Community Outreach Coordinator Abigail Stahl worked with ATJI to put on an event that addressed the trends of anti-Muslim hate and the subsequent violations of the law, ranging from employment discrimination to violent attacks against Muslims.

As part of a Spring Lecture Series on The Future of the American Dream, Professor Caitlin Corning from George Fox University requested Community Outreach Coordinator Abigail Stahl and Civil Rights Coordinator Jennifer Gist to speak on religious pluralism in one of her classes on February 14, 2011. 

Mid-February, 2011, CAIR-Washington received an invitation to a listening session with U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Washington, Jenny Durkan, and Muslim, Sikh, and Arab community leaders. Monday, March 7, 2011, CAIR-Washington Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari and Civil Rights Coordinator Jennifer Gist commuted to the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Seattle to attend the meeting. In the company of Somali community leaders, One America staff and board members, and Muslim leaders, Arsalan and Jennifer cleared the security checkpoint and arrived at Jenny's office. The agenda was loosely arranged, as Jenny explained that her intention was to listen, not lecture. Specifically, Jenny asked community leaders and representatives what kind of issues their communities face and how she can be of assistance to marginalized communities.

In late January, MSNBC.com reporter Kari Huus contacted CAIR-Washington about a series of stories she was working on addressing Islam in the United States. Specifically, Kari contacted CAIR-WA seeking a "Know Your Rights" presentation she could attend for a piece in which she was addressing ways that Muslim leaders are attempting to educate the American Muslim population about their civil rights with local and federal authorities. To accommodate Kari's request.

On February 7, 8 and 9, 2011 CAIR- Washington Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari, Board Vice-President Ahmed Scego, and Civil Rights Intern Annie Kucklick spent three days lobbying members of Congress regarding the End Racial Profiling Act, PATRIOT Act re-authorization and Rep. Peter King's hearings on Muslim "radicalization." 

On January 20, 2011 a panel of five local Muslims spoke at Everett Community College (EvCC) as part of the "Muslims in America" lecture series which began this fall and will conclude at the end of this educational year. The panel itself, coordinated by CAIR-WA, was asked to answer the question, "What does it mean to be a Muslim in America?"  

The event was attended by over 100 persons in the auditorium and another 50 in an overflow room, and was covered by at least two local media outlets.

For those familiar with CAIR-Washington, it will come as no surprise that CAIR relies heavily on the generous time and efforts of a dedicated number of volunteers and interns. Whether it is maintaining the CAIR-Washington website, registering people to vote, or spearheading a Media Watch project, volunteers and interns provide vital services which support and sustain the mission and work of CAIR-Washington. Simply said, CAIRwould not be CAIR without them.