[Shadow_Group] Palestinians Called 'Stinking Animals' on MSNBC

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=1331&page=NR 

News Releases
Thursday, November 18, 2004 

Palestinians Called 'Stinking Animals' on MSNBC's
'Imus'
CAIR calls for apology, says unchallenged remarks
promote hate 

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/18/04) – A prominent national
Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called
for an apology from the MSNBC cable television network
over comments on its "Imus in the Morning" program
that
referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals" and
suggested that they all be killed. 

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) also urged that the program's host,
Don Imus, be reprimanded for failing to challenge his
colleagues’ inflammatory remarks. CAIR, which says it
received numerous complaints about the comments,
quoted a transcript of Imus’ November 12th program in
which he and his on-air colleagues engaged in the
following discussion about live coverage of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's funeral:

DON IMUS: They're (the Palestinians) eating dirt and
that fat pig wife of his is living in Paris. 
COLLEAGUE: They’re all brainwashed, though. That’s
what it is. And they're stupid, to begin with, but
they’re brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought
to drop the bomb right there, kill ‘em all right now…
IMUS: Well, the problem is we have (reporter) Andrea
(Mitchell) there; we don't want anything to happen to
her.
COLLEAGUE: Oh, she's got to get out. Andrea, get out
and then drop the bomb and kill everybody…
COLLEAGUE: Look at this. Animals. Animals!

In a letter to MSNBC President Neal Shapiro, CAIR
stated: "We are firm defenders of the First Amendment,
but these hate-filled and racist remarks can only
serve to legitimize anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry
in our
society and could lead to further discrimination
against members of the Islamic and Arab-American
communities." (CAIR also filed a complaint with the
FCC because "Imus in the Morning" is a
nationally-syndicated radio program.)

This is not the first time Imus has been involved in a
controversy over anti-Arab and Islamophobic remarks.
As early as 1985, he was forced to apologize for
referring to Arabs as "goat-humping weasels." (Sunday
Mail, 4/21/85) He has also been criticized for using
the derogatory term "raghead." (Accuracy in Media) In
a reference to the crash of an Iranian airliner
earlier this year that killed 43 passengers, Imus
said, "When I
hear stories like that, I think who cares.” He then
stated: "Too bad it wasn't full of Saudi Arabians."
(National Iranian American Council)

Earlier this year, CAIR announced a campaign designed
to counter hate speech on talk radio. The campaign,
called "Hate Hurts America," is based on the premise
that the increasing attacks on Islam by talk show
hosts harm the United States by creating a downward
spiral of interfaith mistrust and hostility. As part
of that campaign, Muslims were given step-by-step
instructions on how to monitor local and syndicated
radio programs, report anti-Muslim hate, file FCC
complaints, and contact advertisers to register their
concerns. 

SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/ 

Reports of anti-Muslim hate may be filed at: 
http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/hatewatch.asp 

To learn "How to Challenge Anti-Muslim Hate on the
Radio," go to:
http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/hatehurtsamerica.asp?page=challengeradio 

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group,
is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 29
offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.
Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam,
encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower
American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote
justice and mutual understanding.

- END -

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail: ihooper at cair-net.org ;
Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail:
rahmed at cair-net.org 








++++++++++++++++++++++++++STOP THE WALL++++++++++++++++++++++++++

www.stopthewall.org www.nad-plo.org www.hrw.org www.pal-arc.org www.endtheoccupation.org www.sustaincampaign.org






		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 The all-new My Yahoo! – Get yours free!    
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/shadowgroup-l/attachments/20041203/7a73a5ad/attachment.html>