S. Asian Groups Offer Civil Rights Recommendations

By SUNITA SOHRABJI

Three prominent South Asian organizations have made policy recommendations on civil rights and immigration to members of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The organizations include South Asian Americans Leading Together, which made policy recommendations on behalf of its national coalition of 35 organizations; the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and the Discrimination and National Security Initiative, which examines the treatment of minority communities in the U.S., particularly Muslim Americans post-9/11. “We wanted to make sure our community had a seat at the table,” Deepa Iyer, executive director of SAALT, told India-West. SAALT, along with several national Asian American organizations, was invited to a series of meetings with Obama’s transition team, to discuss civil rights and immigration issues. SAALT then initiated a meeting with members of the civil rights transition team to put forth some recommendations. “All the meetings we went to were very productive,” said Iyer, adding, “The team was very open to hearing about the issues and the openness of the dialogue was very positive.” The administration might immediately put through some fixes, including regulatory changes and a rollback of some of the federal policies of the past eight years, independent of the congressional process, said Iyer, adding that there was a good chance some fixes might be implemented within the first 100 days of the new administration. SAALT will meet again with the new administration in February. Among SAALT’s recommendations were the vigorous enforcement of hate crime and discrimination laws, including workplace and school discrimination, and the disaggregation of data related to such incidents; a ban on racial profiling; and a rollback of some post-9/11 national security initiatives. The incoming administration’s Web site, at www.change.gov, pledges to address both racial profiling and hate crimes. SAALT also addressed immigration reform, recommending pathways to legalization and citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and expanding the H-1B and H-2B employment visa programs. SAALT also asked the administration to roll back policies targeting Muslims and Arab Americans in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Civil rights attorney Dawinder “Dave” Sidhu, founder of the DNSI, also expressed hopefulness on the new administration’s interest in civil rights issues. “We’re very optimistic that the Obama administration will act consistently with the broad constitutional themes outlined in our recommendations,” he told India-West. The DNSI’s recommendations included issuing directives to security and intelligence forces to prohibit racial or religious profiling in national security decisions; greater federal protection against hate crimes; and examining policy on the treatment of Muslim detainees post 9/11. DNSI, along with the Sikh Coalition, recently wrote an amicus brief to the Supreme Court to support the case of Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani native, who along with 1,000 New York-area Muslims, was jailed without charges, and held at a special facility for more than two years, following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Iqbal — who is suing former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III — has alleged that he was subjected to daily torture at the Federal Bureau of Prison’s most restrictive type of facility. The DNSI has also recommended establishing a Muslim “brain trust” to determine how the Muslim world is impacted by American action. “One of the disappointing aspects of the present administration is that it has not fully appreciated the manner in which its words and actions were received in the Muslim world,” said Sidhu, adding that the U.S.’s international conduct may be perceived as “emasculating Muslim sovereignty,” thereby generating anti-American sentiment. The DNSI has proposed a “brain trust” within the State Department or a policy working group that is aware of Islamic history, culture and religious beliefs. SALDEF’s recommendations included a review of policy related to turbans and beards in U.S. military forces. Sikh Americans have effectively been excluded from the U.S. armed forces, because turbans and beards were prohibited in the military since 1981. “Military involvement exudes patriotism, and a love of the country,” Rajbir Singh Datta, executive director of SALDEF, told India-West. “Military involvement says ‘we are Americans, we are patriotic, we are just like you.’” The organization plans to make this issue its top priority with the incoming administration, said Datta, adding that there is a lot of support in Congress for a revision of policy. Datta also stated his optimism for the new administration, especially the choice of Eric Holder, who will be the nation’s first African-American attorney general, when confirmed. Holder has a long record on civil rights issues, said Datta. SALDEF also proposed that the new administration increase staff at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which hears cases related to workplace discrimination, and has increased its caseload by 68 percent over the past decade. It also made recommendations regarding the Transportation Security Administration, including collecting racial and ethnic data of passengers who are singled out for secondary screenings at airports. Sikh American organizations contend that turbaned and bearded passengers are almost always targeted for secondary screenings. In related news, SAALT is hosting a special inaugural weekend reception Jan. 18, 7 p.m. at K&L Gates in Washington D.C. More information about the event is available at SAALT’s Web site and on its Facebook page. The Indian American Leadership Initiative is also hosting an inauguration cocktail reception Jan. 19 at the EyeBar; information about the event is on IALI’s Facebook page. 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