AP reports that 15 Muslim leaders will boycott today's annual interfaith breakfast sponsored by New York Mayor Michaael Bloomberg. The leaders are concerned with Bloomberg's support for a police program that gathered information by infiltrating Muslim neighborhoods and mosques. A letter (
full text) signed by the 15 invitees and dozens of other Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders, reads in part:
We believe with heartfelt conviction that during times when a community’s rights are being flagrantly violated its leaders cannot in good conscience appear at a public gathering with the government official who is ultimately responsible and smile for the cameras as if all is well, when we know full well that it is not....
This past August, the Associated Press released a series of investigative reports that detailed how, over the past decade since 9/11, the NYPD has been monitoring and profiling virtually every layer of NYC Muslim public life, often with no suspicion of wrongdoing.... According to the investigation, the police department monitored and collected information on New Yorkers at about 250 mosques, schools, and businesses throughout the city, simply because of their religion and not because they exhibited suspicious behavior.
Mayor Bloomberg, the extent of these civil rights violations is astonishing, yet instead of calling for accountability and the rule of law, you have thus far defended the NYPD’s misconduct.
The mayor's office says it still expects some two dozen Muslim leaders to attend the event which is designed to demonstrate the city's diversity.
