This week in DC: Calling for the end of Gitmo, the Chauvin verdict, and remembering Imam Sohaib Nazeer Sultan.

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Issue 22: Friday, 23 April 2021
— THIS WEEK IN DC —

U.S. House Passes Bill to Make Washington, D.C., the 51st State; House Votes to Limit Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia Over Khashoggi Killing; Officials: Biden Preparing to Recognize Armenian Genocide; Biden Unveils Sweeping Climate Goal — and Plans to Meet it Even if Congress Won't; U.S. Capitol Police Officer Allegedly Told Units to Only Monitor for 'Anti-Trump' Protesters on January 6; Biden Hosts Global Climate Change Summit on Earth Day; Immigrant Detention For Profit Faces Resistance After Big Expansion Under Trump; Senate Passes Hate Crime Bill Responding to Wave of Violence Against Asian Americans; U.S. House Passes Bill to Prevent Another ‘Muslim Ban’.

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IN THIS ISSUE
* Featured Issue: It’s Time To Close Down Guantánamo Bay Military Detention Camp
* Obituary of Imam Sohaib Nazeer Sultan (d. 4/16/21)
* Statement: The Verdict Is In.
* Webinar: The Impact of the Chauvin Verdict

FEATURED ISSUE
REUTERS

It’s Time To Close Down Guantánamo Bay Military Detention Camp

Last Friday, 24 U.S. Senators penned a letter to President Biden, urging his administration to close down the military detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, calling the detention camp a “symbol of lawlessness and human rights abuses”. The detainees that have been imprisoned in Guantanamo have been confined for nearly two decades, subjected to torture, without trial or charge. The letter urges the Biden Administration to re-establish the Special Envoy for Guantánamo Closure to rebuild the appropriate infrastructure to resettle the 40 remaining detainees out of U.S. custody and ultimately close the detention center.

Also referred to as Gitmo, the detention camp is a United States military prison located in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The military prison was established in 2002 by President George W. Bush as part of the War on Terror that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Read the full article → ([link removed])

“Imam Sohaib was a guiding light... he had an infectious smile that could bring joy to those facing the darkest of times.”
— SHABBIR AGHA ABBAS —

Obituary of Imam Sohaib Nazeer Sultan (d. 4/16/21)
Written by Guest Contributor, Shabbir Agha Abbas

Imam Sohaib Nazeer Sultan left this world on the 16th of April, after battling a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer, also known as metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Even though we had a year of notice as to his devastating diagnosis, nothing could have prepared the Princeton University, as well as the greater New Jersey Muslim community, for his loss. The reason being, Imam Sohaib himself was our comforter, he was whom we turned to during times of difficulty. Finally emerging from this scarring pandemic, it would only be natural that our souls would beckon us to Murray-Dodge Hall, room 202, to receive pastoral counsel from our dear Imam. Who do we see now, where do we go? Whom do we convey our feelings to? Who will help shoulder our burdens? His loss will only become more pronounced in the coming months, as Princeton and other universities in the region begin returning to normalcy.

Remembering a firm defender of Islam → ([link removed])

The Verdict Is In.

We are encouraged by this week’s verdict convicting Derek Chauvin on all counts for the murder of George Floyd. To an entire community, our justice system is a trial, verdict, and death sentence that begins and ends with law enforcement. We must do better to ensure that the people’s system of justice applies to all people, including Black people. Justice is more than correcting for unnecessary murder. True justice is preventing these instances from even occurring.

Read our full statement → ([link removed])

ICYMI:

Webinar: The Impact of the Chauvin Verdict
When Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all charges for the murder of George Floyd, history was made — but what were the implications of the moment? We unpacked the impact of the Chauvin verdict with Farhio Khalif, Executive Director of VEAW and Vice President of Minnesota/Dakota State NAACP, Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC President and Co-Founder, Umar Hakim-Dey, Founder of Inkerij and Chair of MPAC's African American Muslim Insight Council (AAMIC), and Katrina Hasan Hamilton, of Muslim Journal and MPAC's AAMIC and discussed where we go from here. In case you missed the panel, you can still watch it on our Facebook and YouTube pages.

Watch the discussion → ([link removed])

GOOD TO KNOW
* AP source: Guantanamo prisoners now getting ([link removed]) COVID-19 vaccine
* Derek Chauvin found ([link removed]) guilty on all three counts for murdering George Floyd
* Out of thin air: NASA rover makes ([link removed]) oxygen from Martian atmosphere
* Only 2 'breakthrough' infections among hundreds of fully vaccinated people, new study finds ([link removed])
* India posts ([link removed]) world record COVID cases with oxygen running out
* UK lawmakers pass ([link removed]) motion saying China committing genocide
* Bill to add Muslim history lessons in schools advances ([link removed])


— THIS WEEK IN HISTORY —

April 18, 1954 - Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power and appoints himself Prime Minister; April 18, 1996 - Kalim Siddiqui, Pakistani-British writer & Islamic activist, dies at 62; April 18, 1996 - In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the UN compound at Qana; April 20, 702 - Jafar al-Sadiq, Muslim scholar and scientist, born in Medina, Umayyad Empire; April 20, 1828 - Frenchman René Caillié is the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, returns to win 10,000 franc prize from Société de Géographie; April 20, 1920 - Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate; April 22, 570 - Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), founder of Islam, born in Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia; April 23, 1920 - Turkish Grand National Assembly 1st meets in Ankara, denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution; April 23, 1925 - Having badly defeated Spain and driven her out of Spanish Morocco, the native Riffi, led by
Abd-el-Krim, turn on the French in French Morocco; April 23, 1989 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays his last game as a Laker; April 24, 1311 - General Malik Kafur returns to Delhi after campaign in South India.

April 18, 1775 - Paul Revere and William Dawes ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning the "Regulars are coming!"; April 18, 1783 - Fighting ceases in the American Revolution; April 18, 1906 - San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city; April 18, 1994 - Former President Nixon suffered a stroke & dies 4 days later; April 19, 1775 - American Revolution begins in Lexington, MA. The "Shot Heard Round the World" took place in Concord later that day; April 19, 1782 - John Adams secures Dutch Republic's recognition of the US as an independent government and house he purchased in The Hague becomes first American embassy; April 19, 1982 - Guinon Bluford announced as 1st African American NASA astronaut; April 19, 1982 - Sally Ride is named the 1st American woman astronaut; April 19, 1989 - Central Park Five: Violent rape of jogger in NYC's Central Park became one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s. 5 men wrongfully convicted spend between
6-13 years in prison; April 19, 1994 - Rodney King awarded $3,800,000 compensation by the LA County for his police beating; April 19, 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and injuring 500; April 20, 1971 - US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation; April 20, 1999 - Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others at Columbine High School, CO; April 21, 1526 - 1st slave revolt in the American colonies occurs in South Carolina; April 21, 1789 - John Adams sworn in as 1st US Vice President (9 days before Washington); April 24, 1704 - 1st continuously published newspaper in America - The Boston News-Letter published by John Campbell; April 24, 1884 - National Medical Association of Black physicians organizes in Atlanta.

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