SALON

Monday, Mar 7, 2011 2:25 PM UTC

King: Hearings will help US-Muslim cooperation

The GOP congressman believes his incendiary hearings on domestic terrorism will reconcile Muslims to the police

By

Topics: Islam, Peter King, R-N.Y., War Room,

King: Hearings will help US-Muslim cooperationFILE - House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Feb. 16, 2011 file photo. A coalition of over 100 interfaith, nonprofit and governmental organizations plans to rally in New York City Sunday March 6, 2011 against a planned congressional hearing scheduled by U.S. Rep. Peter J. King of New York on Muslims' role in homegrown terrorism. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)(Credit: AP)

On Thursday, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) will hold his much-anticipated first hearing on terrorism and U.S. Muslims, or, as it’s officially titled, “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response.”

In advance of the hearing, King is making the media rounds, and he made a telling comment to the New York Daily News over the weekend:

Muslims, he said, have a “misguided” belief that they were victimized by a backlash of hatred after the Sept. 11 attacks. The congressman argues the hate they feel is imagined, and Muslims need to put aside any fears they have towards official America and police.

“I think a lot of that is a self-imposed fear they have, and that seemed to put them underground, put then in a sense of non-cooperation,” King said. “I’m hoping that the hearing will bring this out, and encourage people in the Muslim community to come forward and realize that they should cooperate.”

The notion that “radicalization” hearings led by King — who has a lengthy history of making inflammatory and bogus accusations about Muslims — are going to encourage better cooperation between police and this community is a fantasy.

King is a man who has repeatedly cited the baseless “statistic” that “80 percent” of mosques in America are controlled by “radical imams.” He also once told Politico that “there are too many mosques in this country” — the type of statement that, if it had been made about a different religious group, would have ended King’s career. Meanwhile, the names of a few anti-Muslim activists have been floated as witnesses for the hearing — though the final composition of the witness list is not clear.

All of this suggests that most American Muslims will not see in King a reason to have cozier feelings about the government or law enforcement (which, the Washington Monthly recently reported, often gets bigoted and ignorant training about Islam).

Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 38 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations