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 The Obama administration has defended Muslim Americans after
attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and the
inflammatory rhetoric that came in its wake, while a parallel
message to Islamic communities is gaining urgency: please help.
As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested banning
all Muslims from entering the country on Monday, Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson stood in solidarity with an imam and leaders
of other faiths at a northern Virginia Islamic center.
Johnson would not comment on Trump's remarks but urged Americans not
to vilify Muslims or throw a "net of suspicion" over an entire
community.
But he had also made another appeal, this one to Muslim communities.
"Terrorist organizations overseas have targeted your communities.
They seek to pull your youth into the pit of violent extremism. Help
us to help you stop this," he said.
Since the deadly Nov. 13 attacks by Islamic State followers in Paris
and last week's California shootings, there has been a clear call
from American officials for Muslims to help police themselves.
Three days after the Paris attacks, Obama urged Muslims around the
world to ask "very serious questions" about how extremist ideologies
take root and protect children from the idea that killing can be
justified by religion.
"To some degree, that is something that has to come from within the
Muslim community itself," Obama said at a news conference in
Antalya, Turkey, after the G20 summit. "I think there have been
times where there has not been enough pushback against extremism."
The president made a similar plea in Sunday's Oval Office address on
counterterrorism efforts. On Monday, White House spokesman Josh
Earnest said Muslims will have to speak out against radicalizing
forces in their own community.
"We would like to see leaders in the Muslim community stand up and
speak out more forcefully in terms of condemning these hateful,
radicalizing messages that we see from extremist organizations,"
Earnest said at a news briefing.
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Leaders of the Islamic center where Johnson spoke, All Dulles Area
Muslim Society, who said they have been doing all they can since the
Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.
"There's more denunciations coming from the Muslim community - not
just now but for 14 years. Mosques are speaking out left and right,"
said Rizwan Jaka, a trustee of the Virginia center.
The center has been working with local and federal law enforcement
and created think tanks and nonprofit organizations dedicated to
counter-radicalization, he said.
But people who get radicalized tend to go to mosques or be involved
in their communities, which makes them harder to spot, he said.
The center's imam, Mohamed Magid, said his center will try to do
more to help parents keep children from being influenced by
extremist ideology online.
Magid said attacks in Paris and California have taken a toll on his
community in Sterling, Virginia. Even the center's private security
company said it could no longer protect the mosque from an attack.
"We are out there fighting this war," Magid said. "We are not scared
of (Islamic State). I don't care - we are not going to hide."
(Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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