Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
In the wake of 9/11, the New York Police Department launched a program known as the Demographics Unit.
The controversial unit tracked Muslims as part of an effort to stop terrorism threats, relying on databases which looked at where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed.
Informants were placed in mosques and authorities monitored Muslims living in New York who adopted American surnames. Critics opposing the operation said it infringed on civil rights and privacy.
This week NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton announced they've disbanded the Demographics Unit.
For more on this decision and what it could mean for Muslims here in southern California we turn to Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for the Greater Los Angeles area.