The San José Peace and Justice Center joins in solidarity with the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as they urge the Commonwealth Club to cancel an upcoming event featuring two speakers who both have “a shameful track record of propagating Islamophobia, which exacerbates ongoing intolerance and hate towards Muslims, immigrants, and others.”
Advocacy Manager Aliza Kazmi and Executive Director Zahra Billoo of CAIR-SFBA have penned a letter to Dr. Gloria C. Duffy, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco outlining the damage this event would cause if it is not cancelled. In the letter they write, “We were troubled when we learned that the Club had planned and marketed a conversation between an anti-Palestinian racist, who routinely targets Palestinians and those who advocate for their human rights, and an anti-Muslim advocate, who conflates an influx of Muslim refugees with the rise of gender-based violence in Western countries.” Hosting an event featuring Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Bari Weiss “would show an unfortunate disregard for the increase in violent hate and delegitimize the visceral and ongoing impact that Islamophobia has on our local and global communities.”
Rather than hosting this event, Kazmi and Billoo encourage the Club to engage with the region’s American Muslim population and several organizations to promote community education around xenophobia and Islamophobia.
Click this link to read the full letter written by Aliza Kazmi and Zahra Billoo of CAIR-SFBA.
After reading the letter, take action!
Send an email to the Commonwealth Club CEO (gduffy@commonwealthclub.org) and her assistant (padubato@commonwealthclub.org) stating that you support Kazmi and Billoo’s letter, and explain that you urge them to cancel the event.
Create a post on social media tagging CAIR-SFBA and the Commonwealth Club of California to show your support of the letter. Click here and re-tweet this post by CAIR-SFBA on Twitter!