Groups Urge King to Rethink More Hearings

posted on: Jun 16, 2011

The National Network of Arab American Communities, a project of ACCESS, is one of more than 50 signatories on a letter to Rep. Peter King (R-NY) expressing “serious concern” about an upcoming congressional hearing on “the threat of Muslim-American radicalization” in U.S. prisons.

In the June 15 letter, civil and human rights groups including the ACLU, Rights Working Group, People for the American Way, express concern “that this inquiry will foster continuing misimpressions about and hate and prejudice toward the American Muslim community. We note that there is no credible evidence or expert research that Muslim prisoners pose a unique or particular threat.”

The upcoming hearing is the second in King’s bid to focus the House Committee on Homeland Security on alleged “radicalization.” Earlier this year, he convened a similar hearing on the “radicalization” of Muslims in the United States.

The witness list for the next hearing reveals that there will be no officials called to testify from the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the U.S. Department of Justice; it also excludes academics who have studied the entire system, all of whom would be in the best position to address potential threats system-wide, the letter states. “We are concerned that instead the invited witnesses will focus on isolated instances of violent extremism by former or current inmates who are Muslim, without the proper context of the threat of recidivism and violent extremism by all former or current inmates, regardless of faith background.

“Indeed, there are a number of problems in the U.S. prison system that are legitimate subjects of congressional inquiry, such as disparities in sentences for people of color, overcrowding and dangerous conditions of confinement, and the lack of sufficient rehabilitation and reentry programs to reduce prisoner recidivism. Instead of focusing on these issues, solutions to which will only strengthen our criminal justice system and ensure public safety, the upcoming hearing is divisive and distracts from both our country’s national security concerns and challenges faced by our prison systems,” the groups assert.

Click <a href=”http://www.muslimadvocates.org/2d_King_hearing_coalition_ltr_6-15-11.pdf”>here</a> to read the full letter and list of signatories.

ACCESS