The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights held a hearing yesterday on Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims. A webcast of the entire hearing as well as transcripts of statements made by the four witnesses and two committee members are all available on the
Judiciary Committee's website. A report on the hearing from
Religion News Service describes the widely publicized hearing as follows:
In many ways, the hearing led by Senate Democrats on Tuesday (March 29) was the dramatic antithesis of one House Republicans held earlier this month on homegrown Islamic radicalism.
Instead of gavel-banging, decorum prevailed. Sober statistics stood in for emotional anecdotes, and laughter, not sobs, resounded in the committee room. While an audience packed the gallery, the dais was empty save for the six senators who came and went.
But the most striking change was the second hearing’s focus: Crimes committed against American Muslims, not by them.
(See
prior related posting.)
