Cultural Fluency: Muslim American

"CAIR's vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding. CAIR's mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. Through media relations, government relations, education and advocacy, CAIR puts forth an Islamic perspective to ensure the Muslim voice is represented. In offering this perspective, CAIR seeks to empower the American Muslim community and encourage their participation in political and social activism."

CAIR-TX is a chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group with chapters nationwide. The national headquarters is located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
The Texas chapter is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which formed in Houston in December 2002. CAIR’s vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding. CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

A program of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), ICNA Relief is a humanitarian relief and development organization which responds to emergency and disaster situations at home and abroad. ICNA Relief runs special programs to help the needy in poor neighborhoods within North America.

Perhaps the largest Islamic organization in the U.S., ISNA's vision is "To be an exemplary and unifying Islamic organization in North America that contributes to the betterment of the Muslim community and society at large." It's mission is "To foster the development of the Muslim community, interfaith relations, civic engagement, and better understanding of Islam."

Our mission is to provide racial justice education and resources to advance racial justice

At 9 years old, she "watched from her home in NJ as two planes crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. That same year, she heard her first racial slur. At age 11, when the U.S. had begun to invade Iraq and the television was flooded with anti-Muslim commentary, Amani felt overwhelmed with feelings of intense alienation from American society. At 13, her family took a trip to her father’s native homeland of Jordan, and Amani experienced firsthand a culture built on pure religion, not Islamic stereotypes.

Inspired by her trip and after years of feeling like her voice as a Muslim woman was marginalized and neglected during a time when all the media could talk about was, ironically, Muslim women, Amani created a website called MuslimGirl. As the editor-in-chief, she put together a team of Muslim women and started a life dedicated to activism" (adapted from Amazon.com book blurb).

Convert to Islam, "Danielle LoDuca is a third generation artist and author. Drawing inspiration from personal life experiences, her writings highlight the familiarity of Islam in a climate that increasingly portrays the Islamic faith as strange." The blog seems to have been abandoned in November 2016.

At America’s northernmost mosque, in Anchorage, nightly potlucks will let Muslims celebrate iftar together over foods from around the globe.

In a narrow and unanimous decision, the justices ruled that a 1978 law governing national security surveillance did not displace the state secrets doctrine.

The author discusses the religious significance of Friday prayers in Islam and traditions in various parts of the world.

Linda Sarsour, who grew up in a Palestinian family in Brooklyn, is a Muslim woman involved in a variety of social justice activities, including the Arab American Association of New York. "It is still uncommon among Muslims, even in New York, for women to take a leading role in political activities. By her own admission, Ms. Sarsour, too, has struggled with this untraditional role. She said she had an arrangement with her husband that allowed her to pursue her work as long as he remained anonymously in the background."

The Azmi Sisters Go Hard in Ball Hockey. Don’t Act So Surprised.

"Texas Muslim Capitol Day, which began in 2003, brings members of Muslim communities across the state, including many young students, to the Capitol to see for themselves what state government is like."

A few years ago, Congress witnessed the inclusion of the first American Muslim Congressman, Keith Maurice Ellison, a democrat from Minnesota.

"This is the story of United States Army Specialist Zachari Klawonn, an American citizen, a first class US soldier from Alpha 4 -- 5 AMD Air Missile defense unit at Fort Hood. Tough, smart, educated, intelligent, in fact they say he might even be a perfect candidate for the Special Forces ; according to his immediate supervisor Capt. Chris Arata, Klawonn has everything that the army is looking for in a good soldier, but according to Specialist Klawonn, his own American-Moroccan Muslim heritage seems to be haunting him like a never ending nightmare... a situation that has made him a victim of Islamophobia and has put him at the cross roads with the military of a country that he has sworn to protect and defend."

Published on Aug 5, 2013 - 3:30 min.
Enterprise report for KNTV NBC San Francisco Bay Area with Ethan Harp.

"The percentage of Muslims in each U.S. county is shown in a 2010 map. Concentrations range from 5 percent in a few counties to 0 percent, reported in most counties. It should be noted, however, that the data used for this map was collected through surveys of mosques; consequently, Muslims residing in counties without mosques may not have been counted. Estimating the membership of any faith group in the United States is challenging, since census data does not record this information, and many people who identify with a particular religion do not attend houses of worship regularly."