Abigail R. Esman, Contributor to Forbes
“If you see something, say something.” It’s become part of the American vernacular, the 21st-century version of “Just Say No.” Now comes a new one: “If you see something, say nothing.” This, at least, is what America’s Muslim organizations are exhorting American Muslims to do: stay silent. Report nothing. And whatever you do, do not cooperate with the police.
That advice comes after an AP report exposed controversial investigations by the NYPD into New York’s Muslim communities which some say violate civil rights. Surveillance of neighborhoods has gone at times to extremes, according to the AP report, with police monitoring restaurants, barber shops, and other small businesses, even in the absence of any crime.
On Friday 11/18/2011, New York Muslims took to the streets to protest the actions, claiming discrimination, and that the surveillance in Muslim communities is without precedent.
But according to Patrick Dunleavy, former Deputy Inspector General of New York and author of The Fertile Soil of Jihad: Terrorism’s Prison Connection, law enforcement has long followed similar patterns in investigating issues like organized crime and drug cartels...READ MORE
