Leslie Berestein Rojas at Multi-American: Five American Muslims on racial-ethnic profiling: ‘This is my country. I feel insulted.’
While Muslims weren’t the only ones scrutinized, the organization said that FBI documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act showed that agents monitored Muslim and Arab-American communities in Michigan as a probable terrorist recruitment ground. Law enforcement officials have contended they were engaging in effective crime mapping, not ethnic profiling.
KPCC intern Yasmin Nouh spoke with several American Muslims in California after the latter report was released, some of them community leaders, others rank-and-file citizens. Some have been subject to law enforcement scrutiny themselves, including the president of an Orange County, Calif. mosque infiltrated by an FBI informant.
While most aren’t surprised by the recent news, it’s disappointing, they say. Some have chosen not to engage with law enforcement for lack of trust; others see an opportunity to foster dialogue. “If you’re not at the table,” one man said, “you’ll be in the menu
