At CAIR’s virtual annual banquet last night, I heard a number of speakers who are doing good work, and who are obviously enthused about it. Notable for me were two attorneys and an intern Nihad Awad conversed with. Another was a California chapter leader. Nihad spoke about a passion that drives CAIR employees.
CAIR certainly conveys that image, and it draws a lot of talented, dedicated young Muslims and non-Muslims as well.
But not all of those idealistic young folks find what they expect to at CAIR. Some discover a toxic work environment. Some leave in disillusionment. And some are, in their own words, “broken” by that environment or by the behavior of CAIR representatives.
Underneath Nihad Awad’s soft-spoken and gifted manner, which is quite a bit different but no less impressive than Hassan Shibly’s manner, is a willingness to exploit CAIR’s power to the hilt and cover over problems and injustices it perpetrates even against its own employees, rather than deal honestly with them.
As I have noted in a few previous posts, CAIR’s problem is not so different from Israel’s problem. It has too much power. Power corrupts, even those who strive every day to surrender their will to God’s. In the case of Israel, it has too much military might, sophisticated technology, and political clout, which means that making peace with the Palestinians is never quite urgent for the government.
“CAIR is a very powerful organization”, Nihad Awad told a senior staffer when she was resolved to resign and refused to let CAIR purchase her first amendment rights to free speech. Indeed, CAIR is pouring a lot of donor money into a lawsuit in retaliation for the truths she has told about the organization.
Last night’s goal, I believe, was $225,000. A sizable chunk of that amount, or whatever amount short of that which was actually raised, will go to suppressing free speech.
I could not watch last night’s event straight through, and the first comment I tried to post was well over the 200 character limit, which I did not discover for an hour. So by the time I got the hang of it, the event was over. Nonetheless, I was able to post a couple comments. Well, maybe six. Maybe ten.
Not surprisingly, none of the speakers acknowledged in any way the injustices CAIR has perpetrated and still is perpetrating. Edward Mitchell in his concluding prayer came the closest to admitting anything, and perhaps he would like to be able to say more. Perhaps he would rather see CAIR try more transparency and honesty. But he is tightly constrained by the forcefield Nihad Awad still generates at CAIR.
Brother Omar Suleiman is not so constrained, and for months he has had every opportunity to educate himself about some well-documented allegations against CAIR. In addition to all of my “mass” mailings, he has been the lucky recipient of four or five personal emails from me. At least three former employees have written to him about their experiences, and he has not replied to any of them.
One victim of the Muslim leader he helped to expose urged him to decline CAIR’s invitation. To no avail of course.
Yesterday I sent brother Omar those very incriminating internal communications from 2016 which demonstrate that no less than six CAIR senior staffers and board members were concerned about an allegation of a secret marriage of one chapter leader (though CAIR claimed this past April 16 to have had no knowledge of the affair before December, 2020, you may recall).
But man, that guy could bring in the bucks for CAIR. So Nihad was probably relieved when the accused showed up at the brothers-only meeting with a shameful letter from his own lawyer which portrayed a former secret wife as a deranged, dangerous woman who concocted the whole thing on social media.
I sent the same emails to staff of Representatives Ilhan Omar, Andre Carson, and Cori Bush.
The evidence of a cover-up is indisputable. So, I guess we are going to see just how much power CAIR is.
And what, exactly, these Muslim leaders fear.
Reform CAIR 