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LAPD Almost Institutionalizes Rascism, But Backs Off
The Los Angeles Police Department has decided against instituting a plan to "map" the city's Muslim communities, in what was being billed as a counter-terrorism effort. According to the LA Daily News:
"It's been put aside," said LAPD spokeswoman Mary Grady. "It became clear to us [that Muslim communities] were not comfortable with the word mapping and what they believed it meant: racial profiling." Instead, Grady said the Los Angeles Police Department would build relationships with the Muslim community.
The Daily News goes on:
The decision was welcomed by Muslim leaders who in a letter last week denounced the department after its head of counter-terrorism, Michael Downing, told Congress the LAPD embarked on the mapping to follow the influence of radical Muslims who push a "violent, ideologically based extremism."
Hmm...who else do we know who forwards a violent, ideological based agenda...it's funny, it sounds so familiar...oh! Maybe it was the administration that likened the Iraq war to the Crusades. Or maybe it's those Evangelical Christians who bomb abortion clinics and murder providers in the name of God. Or, the same Evangelicals that protest at the funerals of fallen soldiers with hateful anti-gay campaigns. With all these "violent, ideologically based extremist" groups, it looks like police nationwide have their mapping work cut out for them!
Photo by a_sorense via flickr
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