This week in DC: Biden's first 100 days from the American Muslim perspective and shining a light on the human capacity for forgiveness.

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Issue 23: Friday, 30 April 2021
— THIS WEEK IN DC —

U.S. Justice Department Considers Law To Address Domestic Terrorism, Official Says; U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan Has Begun; U.S. Investigating Possible Mysterious Directed Energy Attack Near White House; ‘It’s About Time:’ In Historic First, Two Powerful Women Flank U.S. President; Biden Details $1.8 Trillion Plan For Workers, Students And Families; Biden To Launch Pro-union Task Force; Supreme Court To Take Up Major Second Amendment Concealed Handgun Case; Justice Department To Launch Probe Into The Louisville, Kentucky, Police Department Following Breonna Taylor's Death; Texas Picks Up Two House Seats In Newest Census.

Dear John,

A “symbol of lawlessness and human rights abuses” - this is how a group of U.S. Senators, in a recent letter to President Biden, referred to the detention center at Guantánamo, considered by some to be one of the biggest human rights violations against Muslims in the last 20 years. As a society, we pursue justice, but as individuals, we are encouraged to forgive.

Yesterday we had the honor of hosting a conversation with Mohamedou Ould Slahi. If you couldn’t attend the Forum, I encourage you to watch the recap below in this email. Held without due process and subjected to torture for years at Guantánamo Bay, he showed the highest level of patience and character in forgiving his captors. His example shines a light on the human capacity for forgiveness.

In keeping with these values and in this holy month of Ramadan, MPAC joins the Senators in advocating for the closure of Guantánamo. Are you with us? Will you stand with MPAC this Ramadan by making a zakat-eligible donation today? ([link removed])

May Allah bless you for your generosity.

In gratitude,

Navid Zanjani
MPAC's Senior Development Fellow
Donate Now ([link removed])

FEATURED ISSUE

Biden’s First 100 Days: Successes, Setbacks, and a Look Ahead
By: Mariya Ali, MPAC Policy Intern

Today marks the end of the first 100 days of President Biden’s time in the Oval Office. This period, though arguably arbitrary, has become a benchmark for presidents since the time of FDR, setting the tone for the administration and giving Americans a taste of their top priorities. Compared to his recent predecessors, President Biden has faced a particularly uphill battle upon inauguration. He inherited a global pandemic, an economic crisis, a tarnished international image, and a deeply divided America.

As we take a deep-dive into the Biden Administration’s first 100 days in office, we will assess some of the President’s successes and setbacks, and analyze the road ahead.

Read the full article → ([link removed])

ICYMI:

Close Guantánamo: Why & How?

Thanks to all who joined yesterday's Forum ([link removed]) before breaking fast! You tuned in across the country for a moving discussion on why and how America can close the infamous detention center at Guantánamo Bay. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, an innocent man detained for over 14 years at Gitmo who penned the best-selling memoir Guantánamo Diary shared his experiences and hopes for the future all the way from his home in Mauritania. Nancy Hollander, the defense attorney who won Mohamedou's habeas corpus case delved into current conversations around Domestic Terrorism (DT), and Mohammad Ali, a former Senate National Security & Foreign Policy Aide shared how we can be more impactful in our advocacy efforts with government representatives. Slahi and Hollander were subjects of the recent Golden Globe winning film “The Mauritanian” about the ordeal of his circumstance and the trial. MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati, the first American Muslim to tour the detention facility moderated the
discussion. In case you missed the panel, you can still watch it on our Facebook and YouTube pages.
Watch the discussion → ([link removed])

UP-AND-COMING:

“It is an obligation for Muslims to encourage good works and provide for neighborly needs.”
— UMAR HAKIM-DEY, ILM FOUNDATION'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR —

Humanitarian Day: People Helping People
According to the most recently published Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count ([link removed]) taken in 2020, more than 66,000 people in Los Angeles County were experiencing homelessness, a 12.7% increase from the year before. The City of Los Angeles saw a 16.1% rise to more than 41,000 in the same time period. All during an unprecedented pandemic.

On Saturday, May 1, we're cosponsoring the 22nd Annual Humanitarian Day, an event where Muslims and interfaith allies in Los Angeles and Orange County join forces to feed hundreds of unhoused people across the region in honor of Ramadan. Volunteers will gather under CDC guidelines to assemble gift bags that will be delivered directly to those suffering homelessness in target areas.

WHEN: Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 9AM | 10AM Volunteer Orientation | Assembly 11AM-2PM

WHERE: Islamic Center of Santa Ana – 1610 East First Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701

We urge you to #BeEssential by getting involved, be it through volunteering or donating. Together we can "convert charity into awareness, advocacy, and action" for homelessness.

Register Here → ([link removed])

GOOD TO KNOW
* India COVID cases cross ([link removed]) 18 million, gravediggers work round the clock
* CDC eases ([link removed]) outdoor mask guidance for vaccinated Americans
* Effort to remove California Governor Newsom collects ([link removed]) enough signatures to force recall vote
* U.S. will share ([link removed]) 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine with other countries
* Minnesota police oversight board votes ([link removed]) to ban white supremacists, update crowd control tactics


— THIS WEEK IN HISTORY —

April 25, 1926 - Persian cossack officer Reza Chan crowns himself Shah Palawi; April 25, 1927 - Spain routes 20,000 soldiers to Morocco (uprising Rifkabylen); April 25, 1980 - Announcement of US hostage rescue bungle in Iran; April 25, 1982 - In accordance with Camp David, Israel completes Sinai withdrawal; April 26, 2005 - Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country; April 27, 1915 - Counterattack launched by Turkish forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk against allied troops; April 27, 1978 - Afghanistan revolution (National Day), pro-Russian military coup; April 28, 1951 - Mohammad Mosaddegh elected Prime Minister of Iran by the Parliament of Iran (Majlis); April 28, 1967 - Muhammad Ali refuses induction into army & stripped of boxing title; April 28, 1989 - Iran protests sale of "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie; April 30, 711 - Islamic conquest of Iberia:
Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus); April 30, 2002 - A referendum in Pakistan overwhelmingly approves the Presidency of Pervez Musharraf for another five years; April 30, 2004 - U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

April 25, 1846 - Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War; April 25, 1898 - Spanish–American War: The US declares state of war on Spain effective from 21st April; April 25, 1950 - Chuck Cooper becomes the 1st African American to be drafted into the NBA; April 26, 1777 - Sybil Ludington aged 16, rides 40 miles in New York to warn her father's militia of the approach of the British; April 26, 1954 - Mass trials of Jonas Salk's anti-polio vaccine begin; the first shot is delivered in Fairfax County, VA; more than 443,000 children receive shots over three months; April 26, 1986 - World's worst nuclear disaster: 4th reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power station in USSR explodes, 31 die, radioactive contamination reaches much of Western Europe; April 27, 1773 - British Parliament passes Tea Act; April 27, 1874 - White League, paramilitary white supremacist organization, forms; April 27, 1911 - Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye,
a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore (for the time being) of the US Senate; May 1, 1989 - Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins: US Supreme Court rules employers have legal burden to prove non- discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting Trial of John Hinckley begins for the attempted assassination of US President Ronald Reagan; April 28, 1847 - George B. Vashon becomes 1st African American to enter New York State Bar; April 29, 1854 - Lincoln University receives its charter from Commonwealth of PA, making it the 1st degree-granting Black college in US; April 29, 1902 - Congress extends the Chinese Exclusion Act (of 1882) prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers from territories to the mainland, a rule clearly aimed at Chinese in the Philippines; April 29, 1945 - US Army liberates 31,601 people from the Dachau Nazi concentration camp in Germany; April 29, 1992 - Jury acquits LAPD officers on charges of excessive force in the beating of Rodney King; the
decision sparks massive riots; April 29, 2004 - Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office; April 30, 1349 - Jewish community of Radolfzell, Germany, eradicated; April 30, 1789 - George Washington is inaugurated as the first President of the United States; May 1, 1863 - US Civil War: Confederate congress passes resolution to kill black soldiers; May 1, 1867 - Reconstruction of South begins, black voter registration; May 1, 1886 - US general strike for 8-hour working day begins; May 1, 1948 - Glenn Taylor, Idaho Senator, arrested in Birmingham, AL, for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes"; May 1, 1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks is 1st African American awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry; May 1, 1978 - 1st African American mayor of New Orleans, Ernest Nathan Morial, inaugurated; May 1, 1989 - Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins: US Supreme Court rules employers have legal burden to prove non- discriminatory
reasons for not hiring or promoting.

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