The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported a record number of civil rights complaints filed in the community last year.
On Tuesday (March 11), it spelled out where things stand and where they could be headed.
CAIR said the spike in civil rights complaints was directly linked to global events like the Palestinian conflict.
CAIR said it has never fielded so many complaints, as there were more last year than there were post-9/11.
“What’s different about 2023 moving into 2024 is that much of the discrimination that Muslims have faced nationwide, as well as in the state of Michigan, relates to free speech issues that are connected to Muslims raising their voices about war crimes and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza,” said CAIR Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid.
One example is that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel criminally charged University of Michigan students in connection with a protest.
“University of Michigan Ann Arbor has been one of the biggest, we could say, negative actors in terms of free speech rights and discrimination against Muslims,” Walid said.
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Walid also pointed to more recent headlines coming out of New York.
“We’ve seen just recently the case at Columbia University of an international student who is here legally, not here simply on a student visa but has a green card; he was picked up and detained for simply his activism around Palestine,” Walid said.
Breaking down the numbers, CAIR Michigan said it documented 382 civil rights complaints in 2024, ranging from First Amendment violations to employment discrimination.
“How this shakes down is a lot of Muslim professionals were directly retaliated against for expressing their pro-Palestinian views through either termination or disciplinary proceedings,” said CAIR Michigan Staff Attorney Amy Doukoure.
Local 4 reached out to the University of Michigan to get their response to the accusations made against them but have yet to hear back.
