Senate hearing looks at Muslim rights, harassment
It was billed in Washington as the first-ever congressional hearing
on the civil rights of American Muslims. But it played more like a
second act than a premiere.
In many ways, the hearing led by
Senate Democrats on March 29 was the dramatic antithesis of one that
House Republicans held earlier in the month on homegrown Islamic
radicalism.
Instead of gavel-banging, decorum prevailed. Sobering
statistics stood in for emotional anecdotes, and laughter, not sobs,
resounded in the committee room. While an audience packed the gallery,
the dais was empty save for the six senators who came and went. But the
most striking change was the second hearing's focus: crimes committed
against American Muslims, not by them.
