Transcripts For CSPAN2 Role Of Muslims In Combating Terrorism 20171219

Council looked at the potential role of american muslims in combating terrorism, policy differences between the obama and Trump Administrations, at the potential impact of president trumps immigration policy. [inaudible conversations] hello, everyone. My name is rabia ahmed. Thank you so muchh for attending aus roundtable titled islam vers the west. We are grateful to our esteemed panelists who are agreeing to speak on this very critical in timely topic, and to all of our viewers were watching on cspan2 and listening on cspan radio. We would like for this penalty be as interactive as possible so we have cardsac on the table for our guests inhouse to submit question for the q a, and we also for our viewers were watching on tv, please tweet us your questions at hashtag ask impact. Before i pass the mics on to the director of a policy and ethics the program and the moderate of todays event, i which is like to say a few words about impact. Impact is a National Public Affairs Organization that works to promote and strengthen pluralism for the American Public. We do that to increasing understanding and working on policies that affect our community. The four policy as we work on our National Security and Civil Liberties, immigration, human security, as well as religious freedom. For purposes here on this panel, we will befo discussing the isse of extremism and how to counter isis. It has been our position for years that a robust approach to eradicating terrorism both foreign and domestic is necessary. At the same time our nation can never be truly secure when the Civil Liberties of any community are curtailed and with that taking a holistic approach to addressing all forms of terrorism. Furthermore, federal, state and local government should never censor or condition engagement with any community through the lens of National Security alone. So with that said id like to pass off theat mic to hoda hawa who will officially begin the panel. Thank you, rabia. So were here today to talk about the off debunked but still widely used clash of civilizations that the west and islam are incompatible, and that further there is a war between islam and the west. Recently weve seen a number of policies and announcements with regards to both domestic and international issues. Trump recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel, the several iterations of muslim ban, National Security strategy announcement to be announced later today and the ship from counteringay violent extremism that focuses on all forms of violent extremism to strictly focusing on islamic extremism, just to name a few. We are also seeing, in my opinion, the, implementation oa White Nationalist agenda. This seems like its a movement to address 2040, a when white americans will no longer the majority in america. Policy discussions about this and we need to engage our members in congress on capitol hill. We need to engage the think Tank Community and we need to engage Civil Society to really talk about the impact of this agenda on our National Security. Policy shifts and announcements have happened and are happening at a time when we as a nation are coming to terms with las vegas, what happened in parts of, and in other texas. These are just some to name a few. Against the backdrop of a president who uses the power of his digita and against the back drop who uses thel digital bully pulpit almost daily. As i mentioned, the president will announce the National Security strategy. From what we know it will focus on four areas, defending the homeland, american prosperity, advancing american influence and peace through strength. According to reports one passage of the draft strategy reads and i quote, the United States rejects bigotry, ignorance and oppression and seeks a future built on our values as one American People, an active and concerned american citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations our society protected free press, free speech and free thought. No external thread should shake our values, undermine our i think theres a lot to unpackage in that passage. One point takes us back to the theme of todays panel and that is that this president continues to perpetuate the myth that islam and the west are incompassability and to address his first audience he travels to saudi arabia and overlooks directly talking with american muslims at home. How does this life and the contradictions impact the muslim communities . Well focus on that question and more with our esteemed panelists today and id like to introduce them. To my left, we have the senior fellow at Brookings Institution for middle east policy and author of islamic exceptionalism how struggle over islam is reshaping the world. To my right, the president of the muslim Public Affairs council and to my far right, the nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former white house appointee in the Obama Administration and recently the deputy special envoy for israelipalestinian negotiations. So wed like to start the panel off with a few opening remarks from all of our panelists. We want this to be, as an engaged conversation as possible so, we will have time for question and answer later. Starting this home. God most gracious, most merciful. I just want to jump into two points we should look at in terms of the Trump Administrations National Security agenda. The first point is the departure from a longstanding u. S. Policy and that longstanding u. S. Policy was articulated actually on page 9 of the 2015 National Security strategy under the Obama Administration and states and i quote, we reject the lie that america is at war with islam. And the question to the Trump Administration is that does it continue with that policy . Because the rhetoric and the policies are saying exactly the opposite. That the United States is not just at war with violent extremist groups, but it is at war with islam. And if we are entering that era, were in a dangerous part of our own history and of the worlds history for that matter. So,s that the first thing that we should look at and not just in terms of the introduction and the press statements of peoples that may backtrack from what the president himself may tweet, but the actual policy. What are the actions . And which way is our country going as it relates to islam or any religion for that matter. The second departure is from another longstanding policy articulated by an ambassador back in the early 90s, he is the former ambassador to syria, syria and israel at that time. He said theres two track approach as relates to terrorism. First is bringing perpetrators to justice and secondly to deal with the root causes that create the environment to make terrorism more of a reality, to deal with social political issues, to deal with war, to deal with week governance and authoritarianism and we should look at this strategy how it relates to the above. If it does not address those issues, what we should expect is more war that will cost more american tax dollars and more lives altogether without any real sense of security for our country. It is amazing that as we see groups like isis have less capability for terrorist attacks, and in other words, using trucks now and primitive methods of violence, that as they lose the technological ability for wreaking havoc, for creating terror, that the American Public now is more hysterical about the threat of isis. It should be the opposite. As we reduce the ability of terrorist groups, the American Public should feel more secure and if it does not feel more secure, then theres a problem at the top with leadership. The issue is were not having a conversation about these in terms of policy discourse. Number two, theres a sense that this administration wants to go on the war path against islam, not just against extremist groups. And let me explain that in more detail then. I believe shes right when she said that we are witnessing the rise of a White Nationalist agenda in u. S. Policy. It is a policy based on ideology, not based on values. It is a policy thats based on fear that a group of americans are going to lose power as opposed to sharing power with other americans, they are building walls, calling for travel bans and they are fomenting war abroad. That does not bowed well for our National Security and the reality is, in my opinion, also, that religious nationalism is a national problem. While we are witnessing white religious nationalism in america, we are also witnessing muslim religious nationalism abroad. We are witnessing jewish religious nationalism in israel. And what is happening then is that the extremists are dictating the direction of our future, not the mainstream. And if this administration and future administrations do not figure out a way to bring back mainstream conversations about religion, as opposed to only extremist conversation abouts religion, then i fear that religious nationalism is going to take a stronger foot hold in america as well as what were witnessing abroad. Number two, we are under the threat of eroding American Values as it relates not just to National Security, but a number of policy issues. The first and foremost is the American Value of equality under the law. If we lose equality under the law while were talking about the rule of law, then people will look at the rule of law as an instrument of oppression. And thats whats happening actually abroad and this is what we are in danger of entering in our country here that those in people will talk about the rule of law, but the way to intimidate and silence people. People who are political dissidents, they will be intimidated and silenced through various means. For example, in the United States theres something called the antimedia movement. Diversement and sanctions that protest the occupation of palestinian territories. And because the powers that be now have created legislative means of anti those who are expressing their rights to protest the policy of treatment of palestinians are going to be intimidated and arrested if they are in boycott and investment sanctions. Thats whats happening in ours today. And theres those void of communities. If we dont have communities involved in discourse on these issues, well have more surveillance, more arrests, and people feeling less and less secure. There needs to be a means of having communities involved in these discussions and the example is the new york state, the state of new york announced a Counterterrorism Commission and again, we have a number of Law Enforcement people involved, but we have no Community Based organizations involved in the discussion and that leads to another point thats very troubling and that is that the Trump Administration is killing partnerships between Law Enforcement and communities throughout the country. What we have been working on for the last 20 years in partnership with Law Enforcement is eroding. Theres less of a public trust towards Law Enforcement. That does not bode well for serious effective policy, whether its a policy on violent extremism or any issue thats looking for the interest of our country. My final point is that if the United States government wants to do away with this notion that americas at war with islam and this was started by groups by isis and al qaeda as a means to generate popularity that theyre the ones fighting america us because america is at war with islam and now, the United States government is adding mo more fuel to that idea. And while isis is defeated on the battlefield, its looking for another group, and may be another group more extreme than isis. But i want to go back in history when the afghani people sacrificed a million lives to defeat the soviet union that led to our country, the United States victory in the cold war, did we show any gratitude . Did we say thank you to the afghani people . No, instead our cia, our intelligence agencies fed al qaeda to be the line against the soviets. It lead to the raise of al qaeda and what we saw there was afghanistan was basically trashed. We did not offer any peace dividends to the afghani people and it led to more chaos and civil strive and a destruction of their society. When the iraqi people and the Syrian People stood up against isis that led to the defeat of isis, are we saying thank you to them as an American People . No, we are not. Just the simple gestures to say thank you for being on the side of america against these forces that definitely take on more muslim lives than any lives altogether, there are more muslims lives that suffer at the hands of isis and other violent extremist groups than anyone else, do we say thank you to them . No, instead we tell them theres a travel ban, we want to build more walls and we have more antimuslim rhetoric. This does not bode well for American International interest and it does not bode well for americas domestic issues. So, i leave with that very sobering and unfortunate reality that i see here and on the horizon. Can you comment upon and rhetoric and policies that we see out of the Trump Administration and impact that that has on Islamic Movement and muslim majority countries and again, how that impacts the Muslim American community . First, thank you to the muslim Public Affairs council for having me. The first i want to say on this fundamental issue, is islam compatible with the west and we keep coming back to this particular topic. If you look at various elections in western democracy, the u. S. , europe as well, islam and muslims have in some ways become the primary if you look at partisan divide people are debating essentially 1 to 5 of the population in most western democracies. Its an interesting question how a relatively small minority has become an all encompassing concern in our democratic context today and thats why this isnt just about the role of american muslims or muslims in the west. It comes at the very heart of what it means to be a democracy and how we live with difference in these societies. I think if you want proof or if we want proof that islam or i should say muslims and the west are compatible, because there are different islams and islam is a complex idea and religion, if we look at american muslims, i think the four of us here are american muslims, that that by itself is proof of the compatibility that theres a sense you can be fully muslim and fully american without having to choose. Where in europe, i think its been mo are more complicated theres a tension between being french and being muslim and youre sometimes asked to choose one over the other to be more secular or less religious or less conservative because were a country that appreciates the religious expressions in public life and we dont see that as something bad to be fought, that you can be christian, jewish, or muslim and express that identity in the public sphere, that has been one of, i think, the very important aspects of american identity. But now for the first time, at least in recent memory, we have administration that wants to challenge that basic idea and say that you have to choose to be american over being muslim, or if muslims express their religion or say anything positive about sharia. Sharia is islamic law or tradition so muslims wouldnt be able to know how to pray if it wasnt for sharia. So if we have prominent politicians asking american muslims to disavow sharia, they wont have how to pray or fast or do the pilgrimage. Theres more dangerous rhetoric that has more in common with europe in the past than in terms of racism in the european context. Its not something very indigenous, i would say, to the american experience, to the muslim experience of living here. So, thats one point i really wanted to start with. When it comes to the Foreign Policy aspect, you know, isis as i think it was correctly noted, as isis is on the back foot and as we have success in fighting its territorial limits, its territory, isis will feel more need to show that its still relevant. So, we are going to see more terrorist attacks, unfortunately, and we as americans have to do everything we can to limit that and counter that, but it is something that we will have to live with in some form for the forseeable future so this idea that terrorism can disappear is not a realistic one, right . But what that means is that every time theres a terrorist attack here in the u. S. Or in europe, theres going to be there will be additional threats to american muslims and to our Democratic Values as a country because we will see politicians using the specter of terror attacks to target american muslims and to question their americanist. So unfortunately, what i worry about is that every time, every time this happens for the forseeable future perhaps for decades to come, american muslims will come under scrutiny and i think it goes beyond that. I think that theres this kind of desire to ask american muslims to condemn terrorism every time it happens and i think this is this is, i think, maybe there might be some disagreements on how to actually do this in the Muslim Community, but from my standpoint, groups should be hat the forefront of speaking out and talking about what islam does or doesnt stand for and how islam and extremism are not the same and are at odds with each other. But i think when it comes to individual muslims, this idea that theres an expectation or a responsibility for us as individuals who condemn terrorism, every time theres an attack, i think thats problematic because it should go without saying that im against terrorism just by virtue of the fact that im america. So, no one should have to ask me after a terrorist attack, shadi, do you condemn terrorism . They should assume from the getgo that i oppose any terrorist attack against innocent civilians as all americans do, right . So im worried about this idea that individual muslims feel such a responsibility to speak out and that contributes to a sense theres a collective responsibility. And i think that that actually plays into the hands of extremists who want to paint us as a monolithic community that should always be speaking out in terrorism in a sort of endless way. And i think also part of the problem here, too, is its never enough. People ask us to condemn and we condemn, but theres always an expectation that should go further and people are never satisfied. The last thing ill say and this kind of goes to the question of how we counter extremism and radicalism in the broader muslim world, and how we think about the Foreign Policy element, is that we so in trumps riyadh speech. He talked a lot and this was part of the speech, countering extremism and we have to be entirely focused and all of us in principle agree. Whats striking about the speech. If you look at what he was talking about, there was little substantively what we should do in practice to fight extremism beyond just saying it. This is more than a rhetorical strategy. So, in other words, you cant fight extremism just by fighting extremism. You have to go to the environment that gives rise to extremism and you have to look beyond the very narrow phenomenon. So, in other words, that means that it cant be a narrow securityminded approach. And talking about root causes, and thats certainly one way of looking at it. What gives rise to extremism. Thats the number one question i think we all have to be asking ourselves. I didnt see anything in trumps strategy that gets at that deeper issue. Terrorism doesnt just fall from the sky, it presumably comes out of a particular context. If we look at the terrorism that weve had to deal with in the west, it draws on the civil wars that we saw and we continue to see in syria and iraq, and libya and the list goes on. The civil wars in a sentence are one of the major drivers of extremism and terrorism. Its no accident that the two countries they gained ground in are the two most riddled with civil war, syria and iraq. If we dont have a longer term strategy to address government failures, the fact that states are falling apart. There is no vision for helping the political and Economic Development of the country. That we as americans no longer mention the world publicly democracy or political reform and thats been totally put to the side in how we look at our allies and how we talk about our vision in the middle east. This is all these elements get to the broader context in which extremism arises and if we as americans have nothing to say about that broader context, then it just becomes a rhetorical strategy of saying radical muslims are bad. Extremism is bad. We have to fight it without actually saying anything beyond that. Thank you, shadi. And id like to turn it over to you, the same question. How does this myth that continues to be perpetuated particularly by this Administration Impact american muslims and what were seeing now with the recent announcement of recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel affect our Foreign Policy as well. Sure, thanks for having me. And when i look at when i think of this land of or this issue ever countering, of violent extremism, were here in washington, i actually think back to something that happened 22 years ago. My real first big wakeup call with violent extremism was the Oklahoma City bombing and i was working a few blocks in the white house and we were evaluated and sort of, you know, sent home for the day. And so that was my first wakeup call. I was a young man and shaken and next thing you know the pennsylvania avenue was walled off and the u. S. Took more security steps. And then five or six years later, at 9 11. And you know, now today, you know, when i think about violent extremism, and safety and another thing thats changed between 1995 and today, ive got three young kids and i think about them and their safety. Thats what i think about. And i think as americans, we need to think about the, you know, the relative threat to our security and safety and i think if you look and so, i think if you look at violent extremism in the United States, and how its affected americans particularly, i think there are sort of two big parts to it. Theres White Nationalists, violent extremism and a component thats muslim violent extremism. And i think we can best address them both by addressing them sort of equally and fairly and i think we as americans are safer when we look at both together and not sort of focus on one and not the other. So, thats the first thing i wanted to say. The second thing i wanted to say is, you know, when looking at the Trump Administration, i think you know, theres this amazing story that goes back half a century. In 1958 there was an africanamerican handyman named jimmy wilson, who stole 2 in change from a house he was working at and he was condemned to death in alabama for that, for that theft, right . And so, all of a sudden, the enemy of the United States at that time the soviet union, seized on that, made it a major used this new technology of television and made it a major propaganda issue against the United States and in the cold war in africa. And so, you know, understanding the importance of that, the president and the secretary of state actually called the governor of alabama and sort of said, i dont know whats going on down there, but first of all, this sentence does not meet normal standards of justice for the United States. And second of all, its damaging u. S. National security, right . What we saw over the last few months is a president of the United States, down, again, to bring it back to alabama, embracing a candidate in alabama who was outside of the norms of the United States, which then also sort of hand instead of fighting against and upholding u. S. Values, sort of handed a propaganda victory to americas enemies around the world, saying youve got a president who is embracing extreme right wing values in alabama. Its important for us to understand how we deal domestically affects our standing in the world. And its a little bit about what shdi was saying, also. Why are how does, you know, does asking american muslims as individuals to condemn terror make americans safer or make america less safe . You know, i think the assumption, as shadi said, as americans we all condemn these acts or hopefully 99. 9 of us condemn these acts and root out the ones that arent. The fact of asking actually, you know, helps exacerbate the divide that exists and so that is also a real challenge as well. Does asking american muslim to condemn acts or make america less safe or make us more safe. I would argue that it makes us as a nation less safe. You know, lastly on jerusalem, how is that going to affect things . Its hard to say, to be honest with you. I think there are some political leaders, you know, in muslim majority countries who bigger fish to fry. On the other hand, the origins of the organization of the islamic conference actually go back to an incident that took place in jerusalem. So, i think there is an emotional resonance to jerusalem. I think there is a notion that jerusalem, you know, theres long been a notion that jerusalem is, can be and should be a shared city for all, and that unless all feel a stake and all feel recognized with a place in jerusalem, its problematic. You know, one of the big things i think that were seeing, one of the big fallouts is that on vicepresident s Upcoming Trip to the middle east, its actually the christian minorities in the middle east in egypt and the west bank and jerusalem are refusing to meet with the vicepresident because of the u. S. Actions. So, its again, by not embracing the concept that jerusalem, is, can be and should be a shared city, its problematic. Thank you, theres a lot to unpack. I think we can agree that our panelists gave us a lot to think about, but i do want to start off with a couple of questions for our panelists before i open it up to the audience. And this is for you, you both mentioned dealing with domestic terrorism as an issue that does impact the Global Perceptions of america and how we deal with extremism and terrorism and you both mentioned countering violence and extremism as a federal program. Can you talk a little about, can you critique and or compare the differences between cve under the Obama Administration and what were seeing and not seeing coming out of this Trump Administration . In a nutshell, the Trump Administration is anticve. They dont believe in communityled initiatives. They dont believe in capturing the narrative. They dont believe in partnership to deal with the problem of violent extremism. Theirs is still a top down approach where government is going to dictate the terms onto communities and basically use more surveillance, more informants, heavyhanded Law Enforcement tactics. The Obama Administration was at least trying to see if theres a role where communities can take the lead and our position was that for any kind of policy in terms of countering violent extremism, it has to be bottom up, not top down. It has to be Community Led not government coming into communities and saying lets find the radicals in the community and figure out what to do with them. Resilience and building Healthy Communities. Pro meeting civic, talking about hot topic issues, finding ways to deal with Mental Health problems in our communities, done for the community, by the community. And obviously, the Trump Administration is far away from that. Its interesting that the Trump Administration and the number of civil Rights Groups are both anticve. That the Trump Administration feels that it gives communities too much power, whereas civil Rights Groups felt it gave government a way to intrude onto communities. So, you know, obviously, this deserves, as you said, a much deeper and broader conversati conversation, but i dont see a future right now for cve or any kind of communityled initiatives. I think were back to dealing with, as i said, heavyhanded Law Enforcement tactics and theres basically no Community Trust and no public trust. How does that influence america to the u. S. Strategy . It basically diminishes american influence here, inside communities, and abroad. In other words, in terms of the Foreign Policy front, the move to take the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem, which is occupied territory, the United States is now building on occupied territory, that is why youre getting resistance from christian minorities in the middle east and the organization of islamic conferences, in fact, the former u. S. Ambassador saudi ambassador to the u. S. Wrote an oped in the l. A. Times told that his vicepresident is not welcome in saudi arabia, that basically trump has failed in his promises to the saudi nation. How can a u. S. President ruin a relationship with saudi arabia when saudi arabia told the u. S. Well give you anything you want . Thats what the Trump Administration has accomplished. This is a new low for our lack of influence in the region. Our influence in the region has reached an anemic level. So if thats the objective for our National Security, were failing on that. But, you know, as i said, that this is this is now in terms on the domestic front. I see the partnership is dying and that is a serious concern to me and anyone who is following these issues in terms of the development of our communities and our relationship with the government and with Law Enforcement. Let me just talk about, i think this is domestic stuff. Let me talk about international cve. I was involved with in 2001, the drafting of the first joint policy of encountering violent extremism between the u. S. And aid. Just to sum up that rather elaborate strategy in a few ideas, you know, we basically the thinking was that if we wanted to address violent extremism in the middle east in particular, we needed to address four key things. So, first with social marginalization. The second, with poverty. The third with ungoverned areas and the fourth with government repression. And that we needed to do that through the vehicles of inclusive Economic Growth and Good Governance. And we did our best to try to do that in the prevailing environment that we found ourselves in the Obama Administration. I cant say that we were fully successful. I would say that we were not, however, what weve seen is that at least retorically in terms of the Trump Administration, they are theyre certainly not focusing on Good Governance in the middle east. And theyre not focusing on democracy and theyre not focusing on inclusive Economic Growth. So, in my opinion, the things that the United States could do the most to counter violent extremism in the middle east, are to function on Good Governance, a broad thing, democracy, ungoverned spaces, corruption on the one hand and also, really focus on inclusive Economic Growth. So not just looking are the rich getting richer, but are the poor getting richer. And also related to that is not just the actual Economic Growth, but also the feeling of inclusion, do marginalized communities look at the worltd and say things are going in the right direction . I feel like things are good, therefore im going along with how things are going or do they feel more marginalized and excluded . I think those are how you get at the drives of violent extremism internationally and i think unfortunately the Trump Administration is making us less safe, not more safe, by not focusing on Good Governance and not focusing on incluns seive Economic Growth. That said, you may have to Say Something about these things, too. No, so i would like you to respond to that, but i want to throw in another question in that you mentioned in your remarks that maybe its a little unfair that the average individual american muslim feels the responsibility or the need to condemn terrorism anytime it happens. So wheres do does that leave american muslims when the incident or attack happens and the perceptions of, you know, average americans who are not muslim then are looking to our community to take on that leadership role, to then say, we have a plan, but were here and were addressing this as a community . How, i mean, im sure that i know theres a lot of tension there, but where does that leave them . So, i think its really the role of the leaders of the Muslim Community to play that leadership role and thats where i think. Organizations take the leads and are out there in the media discussing issues after a terrorist attack and trying their best to clarify perceptions. What im getting at is, so im not im not part of a muslim organization. Im just an american who happens to be muslim. Thats how i see myself, instead of a muslim who happens to be american. Right . So for someone to look at me and say, well, just because he was born muslim that he had a responsibility that other americans dont have to Say Something after a terrorist attack, that is an uncomfortable position to be in. However, if individual muslims feel passionate about this and want to speak out in the media and organize and help change perceptions around this issue, more power to them. I dont think that should be the defacto expectation for every single muslim and there are american muslims who dont identify closely with their Muslim Identity and to ask them to make a statement about islam and terrorism is a little bit odd, right . Just as we dont expect after, you know, after people of other races or religions, someone from that group commits an acts of violence, we dont ask the entire group or every Single Member of that group to issue statements. So actually what i try to do after a terrorist attack is to analyze, as an analyst, but i will actually avoid issuing any condemnation on my twitter account, i avoid doing that as a matter of policy because i dont want people to expect that from me going forward. Thats not my role. And do you want to respond to that . Where does that leave the community and continue to perpetuates not the myth, but expectation then that communities have to respond . I agree when it comes to National Security issues we should allow the specialists and not just impact, but there are a number of groups that specialize in National Security. We dont want to securitize the relationship between the u. S. And Muslim Community, but we cannot take National Security out of the minds of the average america. People are worried about security. If islam has something to do with their fears and security, then its our responsibility to speak to the American Public and agree we also have to talk about other forms of violent extremism and we should have equality under the law. But the reality is, the American Public still, by and large, mass a fear about islam. And how were articulating it, how were analyzing it and how were going to move forward, its not just a policy issue, its a social issue. Its a media issue, its a cultural issue and thats where the conversation needs to go. Its not when somebody decides to run over people in manhattan then we have to get out and say we condemn this act or were not going to condemn it anymore because weve been condemning it for the last 20 years, if you havent heard us, no use. Were getting to that conversation, thats not helpful as an organization. So, we do need to address it, in my opinion, from a cultural and social standpoint and try to move away from it just as a policy issue because it does reinforce that american muslims are only important in terms of their securitization or people feeling less secure. We want to move away from that and the same goes in terms of story telling. We want more stories about the muslim doctor and the muslim teacher and the muslim engineer and the muslim policy analyst, in other words, these are americans who happen to be muslims. We need more stories like that out there and this is where i have criticism for our friends, not just our political opponents, our friends in the media and in policy are not allowing this muslim voice to be heard or to be seen. When you turn on the tv, and they talk about anything related to islam and muslims, rarely do you find a muslim in the conversation. Its people talking about muslims, not talking to them. And i think thats another part of a cultural problem that we need to overcome in our society. So, we have time now to open it up for questions from the audience. And thank you again to those who are watching live on cspan2 and listening on cspan radio. If you have questions, tweet them. And so, are there any questions from the audience . From los angeles, one of the pilot cities right for the Obama Administrations cve program. Since these changes that youve talked about youre expecting more heavyhanded tactics. Have you seen anything on the ground in l. A. Or any of the other cities, changes since the new Administration Made these modifications to the program . Ive seen on the one hand that the partnership in l. A. Is still very healthy and very strong because weve worked on it for a number of years. Weve worked on it for now almost 25 years. So, at the lo he cal level its strong, but to get a Community Group to come into a discussion with Law Enforcement now on any of these issues, whether its cve or relations with Law Enforcement and the policies, nobody wants to come out and talk about it. Theyre too afraid. And they do not trust this government and they a a and by extension theres less trust of Law Enforcement. Thats in l. A. Where i feel its strong since weve worked on building that trust and a partnership for so long. I cant imagine how bad it is in areas where there hadnt been that work for partnerships and engagement and i fear that that is going to result in more bad things whether its youre going to see more entrapment type, infiltration of communities, more surveillances or a more general and a more ominous problem and that is Community Feeling more isolated and alienated from the rest of society where now we are approaching the european structure, where muslims are outside the mainstream as opposed to the american structure where american muslims have always felt that they were part of the mainstream. They have been socioeconom socioeconomically integrated and now youll see more isolation. Thats a number of problems. Put aside National Security, but a number of problems that result in that are identified by a ghettoization, more discrimination and harassment, an identity crisis, now youre talking about a whole other set of issues that you have to deal with as a community and then later on how to deal with it from a Public Policy standpoint. Any other questions from the audience . Audience . So, i have a followup question to that and both you both a critique of the federal cve programs we saw under obama and were not seeing under the Trump Administration. Can you talk about the cve top down approach more into a Public Health model and what that took specifically through your partnership in los angeles, and how now those programs are being seen at the local level . And where cve is going at the local and state level now that were not seeing leadership from the federal government on this . Well, i can liao like i side in sort, i think that cve is dead. There was some money allocated in the past administration thats being disbursed and we were granted money for that and the Trump Administration rescinded the grant so many groups like us are not going to pursue these programs which, as you rightly said, that we shift ared the lens of looking at this problem from a criminal justice standpoint to a Public Health standpoint, in other words, how do we build Healthy Communities and infuse services into communities like meant Health Counseling and how do we allow Mental Health experts to address a number of social issues i was focusing on earlier. That was the big objective of our program to empower communities to handle issues themselves so they dont have government coming in later to take care of it for them. As i said, that program, that we had called safe spaces, the grant for that was rescinded, so, it is basically working now at various local levels in terms of trying to get communities to support it, but the communities is is at uch such a level, its in infancy, were building mosques, building schools, but were not building any kind of program yet in the american Muslim Community. So its not getting the support, however, were looking for other means to support that, and i think in general, we want the community to take ownership of the project, like i said, so the government doesnt come in and tell the community how to do it for them. So i want to oh, yes, a question in the audience. Maybe so were seeing a rise in hate crimes across the board in our country, including hate and bias related incidents against the Jewish Community and i was wondering how you see this rise of fear and hatred against other minorities. Okay. So im sorry, theres sort of a bigger problem as youre alluding to that goes just beyond muslims and theres a crisis of identity on the national level. What does it mean to be american. What is the american idea that binds us together. When we lose a sense of that as a nation, its not just the Muslim Minority that suffers, but all minorities, whether its blacks or jews and the list goes on. Thats why its no accident that this administration has been problematic not just with the Muslim Community, but with other communities and minority groups generally feel under attack, disrespected, and that speaks to a bigger problem that all of us have a role to play in addressing. Im not very optimistic about it and i think earlier it was alluded to, theres a demographic shift happening in this country. As whites shift overtime from a majority to a minority, we can only expect these tensions to my sadness to intensify. So, i think we have to be prepared as a country to think in the longterm about how we try to minimize those tensions as america changes demographically. And before i answer that question i want to respond to what the president said recently about immigrants, that you know, that somehow america is getting the worst of the world by allowing immigrants to come in. No, america has benefitted from all the immigrants that have made this country what it is and made it a great country. And to deny Syrian Refugees is a tragedy and a travesty for a super power. Were leaving it up to europe to deal with the refugees and other countries. So america is actually now isolating itself from european and middle eastern partners, talking other governments, the United States is now isolated and that then is going to undermine our National Security interests because we will not find we will not be able to build the coalitions we need on a number of issues if were not willing to participate on issues that other countries care for, whether its climate change, the refugee issues or National Security. So, thats the first thing. And then in terms of hate crimes in our country, yes, of course, theres going to be a spike because when you have the top of the government, the federal government now being led by somebody that carries a White Nationalist agenda and the rhetoric follows, then of course, our communities are the going to be more racialized and africanamericans will tougher. Hispanic members will suffer. Lbgt communities will suffer and White Supremacy is a problem for white americans because theyre victims like everybody else. Well have a more divided society. And of course, this does not help in terms of dealing with hate crimes, it does not help with the minority communities, that have worked so hard to be integrated into the larger society, and does not serve americans, domestic or internationally. So we just have a few minutes left and so if i could ask all of our speakers to respond to this in closing, going back to todays theme, islam versus the west, as part of what seems to be the National Security strategy of this administration, where do we go from here . How do we respond and where does it what does it take for us to rebuild effective National Security policies . Do you want me to start . So, i would just as you asked the question i was trying to think about something optimistic to say and its challenging. You know, at the end of the day, i dont think i dont think trump or the Trump Administration is the end of the world. We america is stronger than that, well get through this. I do consider trump to be our legitimately elected president , even though im very much opposed to him, we are a democracy and elections have consequences and i think that if we want to change our Foreign Policy, this enall of us have to find a way to get involved and make sure our local representatives or whoever we elect in future elections more represent our ideas and aspirations and thats what so great about being american, the shared american identity, the shared american idea, its about ideas and not about ethnicity or some notion of whiteness. We, people can be born american, but people can become americans, and i draw inspiration from that. My father grew up in a small was born in a small village in the nile delta in egypt. He was able overtime through education come to the u. S. And its a cliche, obviously, but in some sense, in a very important sense, lived the American Dream and become american. And i was able to watch my parents become american. They dont feel a conflict. This is their country and they have a stake in it and theyre going to fight for it to become better and i think that that is something that we have to remember and draw inspiration from going forward. I also want to end on an optimistic note, and you know, it comes from with every crisis comes opportunity. And it repeats with every crisis comes opportunity so there is an opportunity and that is that the mainstream, the majority of religious communities, ethic communities, of all communities do not share in nationalist agenda that were seeing in the world, whether youre talking about muslim nationalism, jewish nationalism or christian nationalism. Religious nationalism isnt about religion, its about power. If we want to work for religion, then we have to work for the values and ethics that come from oreligion. Religions and thats what we share together. We have to break out of our bubbles and cocoons. And i invite the evangelical community to speak and have dialog with us. There are few who do, but there are many segments of the evangelical community that have never met with a muslim in the United States. We need that dialog and we need it now. Number two for american muslims, its time to declare our independence from any kind of religious thought from the middle east. We can develop our own American Islamic political thoughts, as americans, and that is is opportunities for us. It is needed now more than ever. We can use tradition, we can read whats happening over there, we can read what shadi says about this or that Group Overseas and we share in the criticism of that, but we need to define our own narrative as american muslims. What is the American Islamic narrative. Thats where we are today. I see that as an opportunity that will alleviate the fears of many of our fellow americans, but more importantly, present hope for the future for our future generatio generations and Young Leaders of american muslims. Thanks for having me, you know, and on the question of fixing our National Security again, as i said earlier, i believe there are domestic roots to our National Security and so for me, being an american is about the idea of e pluribus unum, out of many, one. In a sense were already healing our security through the elections in alabama, through the elections in new jersey and so, its that journey of american democracy that will shape our National Security. Ive already heard from folks across the world that they kind of woke up, took note in those elections and recognized that in a way to a rebuke of the president s policies, so, in a way, theyre already discounting this president s actions because of the sort of domestic responses. So, again, e pluribus unum, out of many one, thats the best way forward for our country, a domestic harmony and for our own National Security abroad. So, thank you for having me. Thank you so much to all of our panelists especially for ending on such an optimistic note and this concludes todays event. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] cspan where history unfolds daily. In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies, and is brought to you today by your able or satellite provider. The House Administration committee is working on a bill that would require members and employees of the house to complete a Workplace Training program each session of congress. The committee is work to go make changes to the congressional reporting and settlement process in harassment cases. Live coverage beginning at 12 15 eastern cspan 3. The later the House Committee looks at funding the government past the deadline. Live coverage 3 p. M. Cspan 3. You can follow these on cspan. Org or with the cspan radio app. And we head live now to the floor of the u. S. Senate in the early part of the day working on a nomination for a Legal Advisor in the state department with a confirmation vote scheduled for 12 so this afternoon eastern time and later, pending action in the house on the g. O. P. Tax bill, the senate would then take up the measure. Youre watching live coverage. Senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, fill us with reverence for you. Help us to remember that you are the one from whom we borrow our heartbeats