(Houston, TX 6/24/11) – Good morning ladies
and gentlemen. My name is Mustafaa
Carroll. I am the executive director of
the Houston, Texas Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR-TX, Houston), and I am the moderator of this news conference. Welcome, and many thanks to the Dominican
Sisters for hosting our press conference and to members of the press for attending.
CAIR-TX in conjunction with Amnesty
International, Dallas Peace Center (DPC), Dominican Sisters, Houston Peace and
Justice Center (HPJC), Islamic Circle of North America – Houston Chapter
(ICNA-Houston), Muslim American Society – Houston Chapter
(MAS-Houston), Sikh Establishment for Harmony, Appreciation & Joy (SEHAJ),
Shades of White (SOW) world peace organization, Texas Coalition Against Death
Penalty (TCADP), Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement (TDPAM) based at
the SHAPE Community Center, and Greater Houston
area religious leaders and human rights activists are gathered here today in support
of Br. Rais Bhuiyan’s call for
“compassion, healing and forgiveness” on behalf of the man sentenced to death
after shooting him and killing two others.
Yesterday,
the Texas Chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-TX) announced the release
of “Same Hate, New Target,” This timely report, the result of a collaborative
effort between CAIR and the University
of California, Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender, is the
first-of-its-kind annual report outlining the disturbing growth of Islamophobia
(unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam). Reports of anti-Muslim rhetoric
doubled between 2009 and 2010 and vandalisms tripled, including damage done to the Turkish Center Mosque in Houston,
an Islamic Center in San Antonio
and a mosque playground in
Arlington. Such fear and
hostility leads to discriminations against Muslims, exclusion of Muslims from
mainstream political or social process, stereotyping, the presumption of guilt
by association, and finally hate crimes as evidenced in the murders of Waqar Hasan and Vasudev Patel, and the near
fatal assault on Rais Bhuiyan.
Today’s speakers will be: Sr. Ceil
Roeger – Dominican Sisters, Rais
Bhuiyan – World without Hate, Hadi
Jawad – Representative Waqar Hasan Family, Rick Halperin – History Professor & Director of the Embrey Human
Rights program at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Texas State Representative Lon Burnam (D-90), Harpal
Singh - Sikh Establishment for Harmony, Appreciation and Joy, Imam Qasim Khan – Shades Of White world
peace organization …. After all have
spoken we will open the floor for questions and answers.
First let’s put
today’s event in historical context. Rais
Bhuiyan, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Bangladesh, was one of this
country’s first hate crime victims immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks. He is requesting that the scheduled July 20 execution of his
attacker, white supremacist Mark Stroman, be commuted to life in prison without
parole. Bhuiyan was working in a
convenience store when, 10 days after the terrorist attacks, a man pushed a gun
into his face. “Where are you from?” were the last words the 26-year-old
Bhuiyan heard before his attacker shot him at close range, blinding him in one
eye and leaving shrapnel he still carries in the right side of his face. The
shooter had asked the same question of two other South Asian immigrants, Waqar
Hasan and Vasudev Patel, before killing them in separate incidents on Sept. 14
and Oct. 4, respectively.
Stroman writes on
his website that he lost a sister in the attacks on the Twin Towers and that he
believed his actions would be celebrated as those of a patriot. Now imprisoned
in the Polunsky Unit death row facility in Livingston, Texas, Stroman has
expressed profound remorse and deep regret for his actions, (Rick) Halperin
says “…and when Mark’s appeals attorney, Lydia Brandt, shared with him
(Stroman) that Rais and other members of the victims’ families have forgiven
him and were working to commute his death sentence, he was reduced to tears.” Bhuiyan is seeking solace for himself and the
wives and children of the other shooting victims. “Executing Stroman is not
what they want, either,” he told The Dallas Morning News. “They have already
suffered so much; it will cause only more suffering if he is executed.” The decision to pursue commutation of
Stroman’s sentence currently resides with Dallas County District Attorney Craig
Watkins. If Watkins does not support commutation, Bhuiyan says he will appeal
to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which can then make a recommendation
to Texas Gov. Rick Perry to commute the sentence. For additional information
and to sign the on-line petition to commute Stroman’s death sentence to life in
prison without parole, please go to Bhuiyan’s website, www.worldwithouthate.org.
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit 501(c) (3),
grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is America's largest Islamic
civil liberties group, with regional offices nationwide and in Canada. The
national headquarters is located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. CAIR’s
Mission is “To enhance understanding of
Islam and Muslims, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower
American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual
understanding.
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