CAIR-Massachusetts Releases New Report Documenting 1,000+ Calls for Civil Rights Assistance Since 2016

In its just-released 2021 civil rights report, Protecting Our Community: 2021 Civil Rights Report, the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MA), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, found that there were more than 1,000 calls to CAIR-MA for assistance from members of the Muslim community since 2016. In that year, its legal department began operations. 

CAIR-MA received 163 requests for legal assistance in 2021, a slight decrease from the 240 average of previous years. The report stated that when schools returned to in-person classes after COVID shutdowns, calls to CAIR-MA complaining about aggressive, sometimes violent, bullying of Muslims students increased significantly. In general though, assistance calls about hate crimes have continued to decrease annually, from 28 in 2017 to just nine in 2021.   

CAIR-MA Legal Director Barbara J. Dougan, Esq. commented: 

“In 2021, our chapter’s legal department received over a thousand complaints since its establishment in 2016. This is bittersweet because although we are eager to be a champion for Massachusetts Muslims when they need us, we are driven by the fact that too many people need help to secure the basic human right of freedom of religion. Massachusetts has good laws on the books.  Our state officials must be committed to enforcing them.” 

CAIR-MA prioritizes providing help in hate crimes and harassment, bullying, education discrimination, employment discrimination, FBI and police harassment, housing discrimination, prisoners’ religious freedoms, public accommodations, and travel abuses. For immigration, family law, and criminal defense, they refer callers to other lawyers or legal groups, state or federal agencies, and non-legal service providers. 

Regarding housing discrimination, CAIR-MA in 2019 filed a case with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) against a man whose religiously-based harassment forced a Muslim family from their apartment. He maliciously reported the family to the police, falsely accusing them of poisoning his dog (saying “Muslims hate dogs”), and filed an unsuccessful court care against them. In one action, he claimed that the Muslim family was monitoring his movements inside his apartment and that they wanted his large dog to bite their young children. In 2020, MCAD issued a “probable cause” finding in the family's favor leading to a 2021 settlement. The former neighbor had to pay the family for their moving expenses and emotional distress, watch a documentary on Islam, and then report about five things he had learned from the film.

CAIR’s mission is "to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding."

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Source: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-massachusetts-releases-new-report-documenting-1000-calls-for-civil-rights-assistance-since-2016/, May 11, 2022.