CALIFORNIA MUSLIMS MEET STATE LEGISLATORS

California, 11 Rajab 1436/30 April 2015 (MINA) – Aiming to get their voices heard, hundreds of California Muslims met their state legislators in Sacramento to discuss the issues important to their community.

“We’re not here just to advocate for Muslim causes,” Osman Khan, who teaches at Granada Islamic School in Santa Clara, Onislam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“We’re American citizens, and we want our voices to become part of the American narrative.”

Khan was one of California Muslim who came to Sacramento to meet with Bay Area lawmakers to make their voices heard.

Organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the “lobby day” was attended by Muslim students, business owners and community leaders from throughout California.

Speaking to state Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, Khan’s students complained that African-American women and Latinas are “unfairly paid” unlike white men.

Muslim students also warned that higher education soon will no longer be affordable for lower classes in the state.

Responding to students’ requests, Wieckowski called the equal pay issue “fundamentally unfair” and vowed to vote in favor bills sponsored by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson.

Among the attendants was Saratoga resident Taj Noori, 69, who came to raise lawmakers’ awareness about California’s growing Muslim community and to represent the interests of her mosque.

“They should know we are active,” Noori of the West Valley Muslim Association said.

On his part, Noori’s husband Qamar, 71, led a small group discussion with Assemblyman Richard Gordon, D-Menlo Park, about the surveillance of Americans’ communications online.

“We need to protect these people from illegal breaches of their personal information,” Gordon said.

Since the 9/11 attacks, US Muslims, estimated between 6-8 million, have complained of discrimination and stereotyping in their communities due to their Islamic attire or identities.

An Economist/YouGov poll found that a 73 percent of Americans believe that US Muslims are victims of discrimination amid recent attacks against the community.

A Pew Research Center study, Public Remains Conflicted Over Islam, has revealed that the majority of Americans know very little about Muslims and their faith.

An earlier Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans Muslims are loyal to their country and optimistic about their future in the United States.(T/P008/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)