Landmark Civil Rights Hearing Reprimands Recent Rise In Anti-Muslim Bigotry
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 3:08PMBy Anna Cameron
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) chaired the first-ever Congressional hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims Tuesday, a response to a charted rise in discrimination over the past year.
“This is a hearing that we need to have, quite frankly,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who also sits on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Subcommittee. “[Freedom of religion] means that I have to stand up for your right to pursue your religion, because if I don’t stand up for your right, you wont stand up for mine.”
In his opening statement, Sen. Durbin spoke out against rising instances of discriminatory attacks on Muslims, including claims that there exist “too many mosques” in America, and that Islam is “wicked” and “evil.”
“Those who use this type of rhetoric, who burn Qurans and who engage in other forms of bigotry and discrimination may be few in number, but their bigoted conduct and remarks violate the spirit of our Bill of Rights,” said Sen. Durbin.
Adding to the Senators’ remarks were the testimonies of Muslim civil rights leader Farhana Khera, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez and former Assistant Attorney General Alex Acosta.
“While nearly a decade has passed since 9/11, we continue to see a steady stream of violence and discrimination targeting Muslim…communities,” noted Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez. “In each city and town… I have been struck by the sense of fear that pervades their lives - fear of violence, of bigotry and hate.”
Perez asserted that the Department of Justice continues to work to protect American Muslims from hate crimes as well as other forms of injustice, including employment discrimination, education discrimination, limits on the use of land for religious purposes and denied access to public facilities.
Though Sen. Graham emphasized the importance of the protection of religious freedoms, he stressed that attention be paid to the increasing threat of domestic Islamist radicalization.
“The front lines of this war are in our own…neighborhoods,” Graham said. “To the American Muslim community: I will stand with you as you practice your religion and you exercise your rights under the Constitution, but I am asking you to get in this fight as a community.”
The hearing comes less than three weeks after Rep. Peter King’s (R-N.Y.) controversial hearing on Islamic radicalization.
Senate Dems Claim Health Care Reform Will Stimulate Small Business, Create Jobs
Any health care reform legislation must include provisions to help small businesses, create more jobs and stimulate the economy, Senate Democrats said Wednesday.
"More than half of all Americans without health insurance are small business owners, their employees and their dependents," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) during a press conference. "We are trying to craft a reform that will make health coverage more stable, more secure and more affordable."
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, said that the high costs of health care has been limiting the potential for U.S businesses to create more jobs.
"We are relying on these 27 million businesses to create more jobs, not less," Landrieu said. "This health care expense is sitting on our Business Committee like a very wet, heavy heavy blanket suffocating their ability to grow and expand."
Under the current drafts of health care reform legislation, small business risks would be pooled with other small businesses in order to stabilize the system through nationwide or statewide exchanges.
"Insurance companies would have to post their premiums side by side so that [employers] can comparison shop," Durbin said. "[Small businesses] will have access to every private insurance company in [their] area."
Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said it was critical that small businesses were included in health care reform in order to stimulate the economy.
"[Small businesses] are the engines of our economy," Lincoln stated. "We need to make sure that what we are doing is going to be helping them."
Durbin admitted that forming the health care bill was a delicate process and that there would be "flash points" along the way, but urged his party's colleagues to stay united in order to pass reform.
"[While] what is being produced by the bi-partisan group from the Finance Committee is not the bill that I would write, I have urged all my colleagues to stick with this process and realize that the first vote is not the last vote," Durbin said. "The Republican [minority] want to filibuster us in to failure. We can't let that happen."