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Hamtramck fails to pass anti-profiling ordinace
ARAB AMERICAN NEWS (Dearborn, Michigan)
http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=468
Saturday, 12.15.2007
The Hamtramck City Council did not pass an ordinance brought to vote Tuesday that would prohibit police from profiling people based on their appearance, immigration status or other factors, because they said what they had in front of them was the wrong version of the measure they intended to vote on.
City attorney Jim Allen told the council after a public hearing that the revised version of the ordinance before them left out a key section that would prevent all city employees from denying services to residents based on immigration status, appearance, ethnicity, gender, manner of dress, national origin, physical characteristics, race, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation.
Allen said he drafted the ordinance based on a similar one that the Detroit City Council passed unanimously in May.
He said he added to it after consulting with civil rights and social service groups including ADC, MOSES, CAIR, NAACP, ACLU, the Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Triangle Foundation.
"I didn’t want them to pass something that wasn't the right ordinance," Allen said.
He said he thinks there will be enough votes for it to pass when the council meets again in January.
But there will be two new council members in January and some worry they will vote against it.
"Today is a sad day," said council member Abdul Algazali, who voted in favor of the ordinance along with two other members despite the discrepancy between it and the original version. He said that whatever was taken out could be added later in an amendment. Two council members and Mayor Karen Majewski voted against the ordinance citing the unexpected changes, leaving the vote tied at three.
"It's going to be hard," said Algazali, to pass any version of the ordinance next year. "That's it, we lost," he said.
He said he expected Councilman Scott Klein—who said at the meeting that the city already has a policy against discrimination—and others who often vote in common with him, to find other reasons to vote against an anti-profiling ordinance in the future.
But in an email sent by Klein to civil rights advocates and several ACCESS employees the day after the meeting, he indicated that he would vote for the original version.
"I am committed to passing this ordinance for a number of different reason(s). First and foremost because I am a gay man who knows exactly what it is like to suffer discrimination. I look forward to the day when my brothers and sisters fully enjoy the rights and privileges of citizenship, and do not suffer discrimination," the email read.
The council is scheduled to meet again on January 8.
Several residents and representatives from various civil rights groups spoke in favor of the ordinance at the meeting in the packed council chambers.
Algazali said it was made clear by all but one person who spoke that the community favors the measure.
"We heard it in this chamber and we hear it in the streets," Algazali said. "We have to have tolerance in the city of Hamtramck."
He said that in addition to preventing discrimination, the ordinance would actually help law enforcement.
"It will make the residents of the city feel at ease to call the police and communicate with police without fearing that the police will ask them about their immigration status."
Former councilman John Justewicz spoke at the hearing against the ordinance, saying it would make things harder for police.
"You have to have some avenue of identifying the people you want to get," he said. "Without that ability, you might as well open the door and say 'do whatever you want.' "
Justewicz said he once worked security for the airport, where he was trained by Israeli experts to consider appearances and behaviors when screening for possible threats....
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4 comments:
To: Blog writer-
You mentioned my name in an article titled "500 attend Campus Palestine event:" on your other blog "stop raping palestine" about an event we had on Friday, December 14, 2007. I'm currently applying to medical schools and I would appreciate it greatly if you could remove the article from your post. You have to appreciate the unfortunate reality that having my name mentioned on a website such as this could inevitably disqualify me from being accepted. I'm working for your cause too, but I really need a favor.
Please help me out!
Thank you
Z-Man
salaam... it is hard to ask muslims in Malaysia to boycott israel products... they always think that it must be a conspiracy... ya.. i support boycott israel...
sometimes, i wonder why people still backing israel.. i feel that israel has their strategy to make people trust them... i found out israel service like taglit programme... i found my lecturer in one of the taglit website...
israelFREEdotCOM
for me, some of jews still don't know the cruelty of Israel soldiers.. we still have to respect them and tell them about the truth is Islaam... since they were young, they have been told that Islam is terror...
n some muslims still don't understand (or maybe not care) about what really happen in palestine... we lack of ukhwah..it is true...my dear sister...
salaam
Hi,
There is an article on your other blog, stop raping palestine, titled "At the University of California - Berkeley: Hundreds Rally to Divest from Israeli War Crimes" that falsely attributes several quotes to me and I recently found this article and the photo. The Berkeley planet has since taken down this article, feel free to search for it, and I would appreciate it if you either take it down or delete my information from it as I do not wish to take further recourse.
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