Issue date: 2/10/06 Section: News

Wade Barker - The Battalion Imam Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, speaks Thursday night at the MSC on the struggle for the preservation of civil liberties. The events was sponsored by the Muslim Students' Association.

Muslims have been late in joining the fight for civil rights and equality in America, but now they need to join other groups to battle America's injustices, civil rights activist Iman Mahdi Bray said Thursday night.

Bray was the headlining speaker of "Civil Rights: The Struggle Continues," presented by the Muslim Students' Association in recognition of Black History Month.

Bray, the executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and host of a Washington D.C. radio talk show, reflected on his experiences with the civil rights movement of the '60s and '70s and advised his audience to continue working for social equality.

"Lets talk about racial profiling," he said. "I always tell people that since 9/11 I have a double whammy. I have to worry about a DWB and a FWM: driving while black and flying while Muslim."

Bray said the racial profiling Muslims have faced exemplifies how Muslims need to speak out against all injustices, not just the ones that face the Muslim community.

"After 9/11, Muslims have been dealing with profiling," he said. "The fact of the matter is that as a community, we were not involved in racial discrimination in America prior to 9/11. If that is wrong now, it was wrong then."

Zaynah Danquah, a junior English major and MSA historian, said the need for Muslim students to understand the problems facing all different people was one reason Bray was invited to speak.

"Even though we have come a long way in the past, we still have a long way to go," Danquah said. "The more people who realize this, the better the environment will be."

Civil rights issues today are just as important as those from the past, said MSA faculty advisor Faisal Chaudhry.

"If people today, white, black, brown or yellow, could know and accept people without national bias, race, hate, or without religions heritage, it would be a worthwhile goal because it is still needed today," Chaudhry said. "The civil rights movement of the '50s, '60s and '70s was that generation's contribution to the achievement of this goal."

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