CAIR-Washington State

CAIR-WA received the "Connecting Communities" award at Faith Action Network's December 3, 2011 banquet at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle.

CAIR-WA received the award for its work in "promoting wider understanding of Islam, creating opportunities for religious dialogue, battling civil rights violations and injustices based on religion, and engaging American Muslims in advocacy for the common good."

Senior citizens at the elegant Bayview Retirement Community in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood had a treat the evening of November 15, 2011 as members of the American Muslim community presented them with a glimpse into their lives and faith.

This came by way of a one-and-a-half hour discussion titled “Islam and the Seattle Muslim Community” that was organized by Bayview’s Pastoral Services in association with CAIR-WA. Around 75 residents, some of them in wheelchairs and walkers, attended the event, eager for something further to chew on after dinner.

Students and staff at University of Washington-Bothell (UW-B) took a look into the lives of those who served in the armed forces on November 11, 2011 as they attended a panel discussion held to commemorate Veterans Day. Titled “Diversity and the military”, the event was organized by the Students Veterans Association (SVA) at UW-B and had an enthusiastic audience curious to learn about the panelists.

The two speakers were Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, a disabled National Guard veteran who spoke about his life as a Muslim in the armed forces and Arika Uesugi, a UW-B accounting major who talked about her experiences as a woman serving in the air force. A few weeks prior to the event, CAIR-WA was contacted by the SVA requesting a Muslim military veteran to speak at the event and Chaudhry was referred by CAIR-WA to them.

Federal agencies and community groups made the most of a sunny afternoon during an otherwise gloomy day to meet at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) center in Redmond on October 27, 2011.

They were taking part in the Quarterly Community Engagement Seattle Area Roundtable organized by the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The roundtable, held periodically in various cities across the US, was established by the CRCL as a forum for groups involved with different minorities to meet and update each other on various pressing issues.

Interfaith relations in Tacoma took a huge step forward last Sunday (October 23, 2011) when the Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation (TUUC) brought its members and local Muslims together for a talk on the commonalities and differences between Unitarian Universalism and Islam.

The talk took place as part of the congregation's regular Sunday services at 9:30 and 11:15 AM and saw 110 people in total attend.

The service was organized as part of the Building Bridges project which looks to establish better relations between Unitarian Universalists, Muslims and other religious communities. The project is run by members of Universalist Unitarian Churches at Eastshore, Edmond and Seattle as well as the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) based in Redmond and the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Washington State (CAIR-WA).

CAIR-WA was invited to deliver a "Know Your Rights" presentation to a women's group in South Seattle, at the newly-opened Mercy Association Center (MAC) in the Rainier Valley area.  The presentation was part of a larger series of presentations on civil rights and domestic violence related issues, held from 2pm-6pm on October 8, 2011.

The first portion of the know your rights presentation was delivered by Seattle Police Department Detective Yanal "Mark" Vwich, and revolved around interaction with local law enforcement officials from a law enforcement perspective.