The second half of the Muslim Student Association’s Social
Justice Week began with a presentation on Monday by Jim Hacking and
presentations on Tuesday by Mark Chmiel, Ph.D., and Safi Eid.

Hacking, a lawyer, Saint Louis University graduate and the head
of the St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), presented “Civil Rights and Muslims.” He spoke in
the Busch Student Center on Monday about what he saw as a steady
decline in freedoms for U.S. Muslims.

Hacking began his speech by comparing the hardship that
Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants faced during World War
II to what many Muslims go through today.

He said that the U.S. government uses terrorists as an excuse
for “the worst racial profiling since WWII.”

The majority of Hacking’s speech, however, focused on the
PATRIOT ACT, which he said, “diminishes the rights of all Muslims.”
Hacking noted that the Patriot Act has led to the detainment of
5,000 foreign nationals, almost all of Arab or Muslim descent, most
of who were not guilty of anything.

He also discussed the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
and the arrest of U.S. Army chaplain James Yee, who recently was
acquitted of treason charges, but “had his life and his reputation
destroyed,” according to Hacking.

Hacking warned the crowd that things would get worse for Muslims
in America. “It’s been a tough couple of years, and it will get
harder if there is another terrorist attack.”

On Tuesday in the BSC, Chmiel, a SLU theology professor, and
Safi Eid, a business student, shared their experiences of living in
Palestine. The speech was co-sponsored by MSA and the SLU
Solidarity with Palestine group.

Eid, an U.S.-born Palestinian, has visited the area four times
in his life.

He shared many experiences with the crowd about his visits,
including his visit in 1990 during the first Palestinian
Intifadah.

He discussed having to live under a 5 p.m. curfew during this
visit and being without basic utilities for most of the time.

“I thought I was there for vacation,” he said, recalling his
experience of being in the middle of a clash between Palestinians
and Israeli Defense Forces, which resulted in Eid being tear
gassed.

His later visits were more pleasant, and he said that Palestine
would be “a great place to live, if there was no occupation.”

Eid called Israel a “beautiful country,” but he also remembered
the many stares he received.

Eid said that each visit was better than the one before because
tensions were eased, and less Israeli soldiers were around.
However, after Intifadah II and the re-occupation of Palestine, Eid
wondered how long it would take for there to be peace again.

While he called the violence in the area scary, he said the
occupation was a hindrance, and “the biggest crime of all.”

Chmiel spent 10 weeks in Palestine with the International
Solidarity Movement while on sabbatical from SLU. His visit was
during the height of the occupation, where Palestinian homes were
being leveled to make way for Israeli settlements.

Chmiel said that he believes the occupation is the root of the
violence; he called suicide bombing “grotesque violence,” and
referred to the occupation as illegal and the settlements as
theft.

With the wall and checkpoints in place, Chmiel said the area was
like a prison and people could not access schools, hospitals or
work-places. He added that 70 percent of the Gaza Strip population
is unemployed.

Describing an experience at a checkpoint where it was hot and
crowded, Chmiel said, “It was easy to lose patience after two
hours, but I didn’t have to do that every day, every week and every
year, like they have to.”

He added, “We are fortunate to go to our homes; Palestinian
homes are being bulldozed every week.”

Chmiel also shared his experience of being arrested from a taxi
at a checkpoint for having a UNICEF pamphlet written in Arabic.

Chmiel reiterated his belief that the violence is a result of
the occupation. “Don’t expect them to act like saints. Violence
will poison them.”

He also believed that the occupation must end for a diplomatic
peace solution to occur. “The U.S. government is not a neutral
broker in Israel,” he said.

He instructed people to “leave their comfort zones and encounter
the face of suffering,” because human dignity is under assault.