IN THIS ISSUE

• Featured Issue: MPAC Celebrates the Signing of The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act

• Statement: MPAC Commends the United States House of Representatives for Repealing the 2002 AUMF

• This Week at MPAC: DTO Community Leadership Briefing

• ICYMI: Our Meeting with the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas

• Statement: MPAC Congratulates Lina Khan for her Confirmation as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission

• Palestine: Share your Story

• Israel/Palestine Legislative Tracker

FEATURED ISSUE

MPAC Celebrates the Signing of The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act

Succeeding the signing of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, the end of the Civil War, and the ratification of the 13th Amendment, by June 19th, 1865, those in Texas were finally able to celebrate their official independence and freedom. The fight to legalize slavery was a debilitating process, and toward the end of the Civil War, many slaveholders retreated to Texas, due to its geographic isolation from Union troops. This isolation led to enslaved Black people learning of their freedom much later than when it was enshrined in the Constitution. When 2,000 Union troops finally arrived, they announced that over 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state of Texas, were legally free. Juneteenth is meant to commemorate not only the emancipation of 4 million slaves, but the widespread knowledge of independence specifically for those who weren’t aware emancipation had come months earlier.
 

Juneteenth Celebrations were first documented in 1866 across southern states and eventually reached the entire country. The decision in Congress to make Juneteenth a federal holiday is a first step in grappling with our history and hopefully beginning a broader discussion of how lynching, mass incarceration, redlining, and other Jim Crow laws took root after emancipation, continuing the systemic issues we see today. 
 

MPAC Commends the United States House of Representatives for Repealing the 2002 AUMF

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) commends the United States House of Representatives for repealing the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

The 2002 AUMF garnered enough support in Congress and infamously became law because of falsified intelligence. That law gave President George W. Bush the unchecked power to launch the invasion of Iraq, which became the biggest military failure since the Vietnam War. 

Since its passage, the AUMF has provided the authority to four administrations, both Democratic and Republican, to use the United States military at their disposal and without the consent or oversight of Congress.

MPAC applauds Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives for passing the repeal, however that is just the first step. 

Read our full statement —>

MPAC AND EMGAGE CONDUCT COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP BRIEFING ON DOUBLE STANDARDS IN PROSECUTION OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN TERRORISM CASES. 

As part of a larger rollout, this week MPAC, along with our partners at Emgage Action, conducted a Community Leadership Briefing to review our recently released joint package: "The Double Standards of U.S. FTO vs DTO Prosecution". 

This policy package and our overall advocacy efforts are geared toward protecting our community first and foremost and we look forward to a continued engagement with key stakeholders and Congressional leaders.

Read the package here —>

ICYMI: Our Meeting with the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas

Last week, MPAC and leaders of other community-based organizations met with Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro N. Mayorkas. We took the opportunity to bring attention to the tragic, racially-motivated murders of members of the Afzaal-Salman family in Canada and the immediate need to address white supremacist violence. The Biden Administration needs to comment on this attack and address it as a threat to the security of all Americans.

The transnational nature of the white supremacist threat is not new as we broke down in our 2019 white paper, “The White Supremacist Threat to America”. We urged the Secretary and the Biden Administration at large to, in no uncertain terms, condemn this horrific act as a premeditated act of terror and speak on the global nature of this threat. What happened in Canada is related to what happened in Christchurch, the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, the two Norway attacks, and the insurrectionist attack on our Capitol this past January. 

We cautioned Secretary Mayorkas that longstanding negligence in addressing the issue directly has made violent acts such as this all too commonplace. Attributing these kinds of attacks as lone wolf incidents has been used as an excuse to not adequately investigate these increasingly dangerous, deadly, and unfortunately more frequent acts of terror nor pass effective legislation to ensure the safety of all Americans, regardless of ethnicity or faith. The growth and evolution of white supremacist ideology not only weakens the security of Americans of racial, religious, or other minority backgrounds, but it also undermines the core foundations of our nation’s democracy.

Conversations like these are possible thanks to your support of MPAC. We look forward to continuing to work with Sec. Mayorkas’ staff and we will keep you in the loop on how we’re continuing to move the needle on issues impacting American Muslims.

To continue to have honest and critical conversations like this with policy officials like Homeland Security Sec. Mayorkas we can only do it with your support.

MPAC Congratulates Lina Khan for her Confirmation as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission

The United States Senate approved the nomination of Lina Khan to serve as commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Following that, President Biden named her Chair of the FTC. The Muslim Public Affairs Council applauds this historic moment as Chairwoman Khan is the first Muslim to serve in this position and the youngest person to Chair the FTC.

Chairwoman Khan was previously a professor at Columbia Law School and counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, where she worked on a number of important antitrust issues. Her work has been published in the Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and Yale Law Journal.

Read our full statement —>

GOOD TO KNOW

• IDF strikes Gaza for second time this week, after incendiary balloons spark eight fires in southern Israel

• Teachers across the country protest laws restricting lessons on racism

• The man accused of hitting a Muslim family with his car is facing terrorism charges

• FBI reportedly warns US lawmakers that QAnon supporters may get more violent

• Title IX protections extend to transgender students Education Department says 

• Entire Portland Police crowd control unit resigns after officer indicted on protest assault charge 

• Man pleads guilty to shooting Black girl at Iowa Trump rally

• Amna Nawaz named Chief Correspondent for PBS NewsHour

LEGISLATIVE TRACKER:

 Review status of  key legislation on issues we're covering — 

The bills below seek to address the ongoing plight of the Palestinian people. 

1. HR.2590 Introduced by Rep. McCollum, Betty [D-MN-4]
   Referred to Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on 4/15/21

   To promote and protect the human rights of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation and to ensure that United States taxpayer funds are not used by the Government of Israel to support the military detention of Palestinian children, the unlawful seizure, appropriation, and destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank, or further annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law.

2. S.Res.225 - Introduced by Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
   Referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on 5/19/21

   A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the value of Palestinian and Israeli lives and urging an immediate cease-fire and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

3. H.J.49 - Joint Resolution introduced in the House by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [D-NY-14} 
   Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on 5/20/21

   A resolution calling for congressional disapproval of the proposed direct commercial sale to Israel of certain weaponry and munitions.

What can you do to help?  

Contact your local congressional offices.