Attorney General Eric Holder is flying off to Paris this weekend for a meeting with the French Minister of Interior in the aftermath of a violent terrorist attack in which 12 people were killed and 11 wounded at the Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo, which printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
Holder, who will meet with French officials on counter-terrorism, is a big opponent of “Islamophobia” against Muslims.
“There can be no ‘us’ or ‘them’ among Americans,” Holder said at a 2010 dinner held by the California-based group Muslim Advocates. “And I believe that law enforcement has an obligation to ensure that members of every religious community enjoy the ability to worship and to practice their faith in peace, free from intimidation, violence or suspicion. That is the right of all Americans. And it must be a reality for every citizen.”
“We have also strengthened efforts to prevent and combat hate crimes — and to protect American Muslims from acts of violence and discrimination,” Holder said.
“More than ever before, all 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices are partnering with the Department’s Civil Rights Division to act as force multipliers in helping to deliver our nation’s most vital protections to their communities. Just this past Tuesday, nearly a third of the nation’s United States Attorneys gathered in Washington for an unprecedented meeting to work on this issue — and to identify additional ways to strengthen outreach to Muslim and Arab-American communities.”
“Since September 11th, 2001, the Justice Department has investigated hundreds of incidents involving violence, threats, vandalism, and arson against Muslims and Arab Americans. In the last fiscal year, the Department indicted more hate crime defendants than any year since 1996, and convicted more hate crime defendants than any year since 2000.”
Holder also called terrorist ideology “a radical and corrupt ideology — one that systematically denies human rights, devalues women and girls, and perverts the peaceful traditions and teachings of Islam.”
