GARDEN GROVE,CA- Representatives of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), the Muslim Student Association of the West Coast Region (MSA West) and the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC) hosted a town hall meeting on Mar 20 to discuss the federal government’s countering violent extremism (CVE) program.
Held at the Islamic Society of Orange County here, the meeting gave local community members a chance to better understand the grave concerns many have raised about the program’s framework.
CAIR-LA Public Affairs Coordinator Haroon Manjlai began the discussion by explaining how the government-led program is ill-conceived, ineffective and most significantly, stigmatizing of the American Muslim community. Manjlai spoke about the selective nature of the program and described that government engagement with American Muslims from a CVE standpoint sets Muslim communities apart as inherently suspect. “The best approach to accomplish the goals of any countering violent extremism program is to build trust and treat the community as a partner, not as a collection of potential suspects,” said Manjlai.
Manjlai also noted the consensus of the majority of Muslim institutions including the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and MSA West and other civil rights organizations across the state in expressing their concern that countering extremism programs which only focus on Muslim communities ignores the real threat of extremists in other communities such as radical white supremacists, while increasing negative public sentiment toward American Muslims as a whole.
CAIR-LA Public Affairs Coordinator Haroon Manjlai began the discussion by explaining how the government-led program is ill-conceived, ineffective and most significantly, stigmatizing of the American Muslim community. Manjlai spoke about the selective nature of the program and described that government engagement with American Muslims from a CVE standpoint sets Muslim communities apart as inherently suspect. “The best approach to accomplish the goals of any countering violent extremism program is to build trust and treat the community as a partner, not as a collection of potential suspects,” said Manjlai.
Manjlai also noted the consensus of the majority of Muslim institutions including the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and MSA West and other civil rights organizations across the state in expressing their concern that countering extremism programs which only focus on Muslim communities ignores the real threat of extremists in other communities such as radical white supremacists, while increasing negative public sentiment toward American Muslims as a whole.
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