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Will All Muslims Please Send Us Their Whereabouts.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16 2007 9:00 AM

Submitted by FearTheReaper. Edited By FearTheReaper.

TAGS: LAPD, Muslim Mapping

Last week the LA Times revealed an awesome plan that would keep America safe from terrorists. The police department was planning on creating a database of all the Muslims living in the Los Angeles area. The LAPD planned on using census data and �other demographic information� to locate Muslim communities and then �reach out� to them. It is being called a �Muslim mapping� program, just for a little extra creepy flair.

We are seeking to identify at-risk communities. We are looking for communities and enclaves based on risk factors that are likely to become isolated�We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities.

Great fucking idea! Maybe after we can start a �Jewish mapping� program. I don�t think anyone would have a problem with that, would they? What? Does that bring up some odd memories or something? Where�s everybody going? Hello?

People were obviously upset, particularly the people who were going to be �mapped.� But they did not stand alone in their outrage.

I was shocked and horrified to read of the Los Angeles Police Department's antiterrorism bureau program to map Muslim communities. The debate over security versus individual rights that was popularized in the wake of the USA Patriot Act and invoked in this case is, in my view, the wrong debate. Targeting identity communities to protect society from those minority subgroups that seek to do harm � as opposed to creating strategies to address criminal behavior � is both morally repugnant and strategically misinformed.

I actually feel a little weird right now, because I have a colorful Los Angeles Muslim map on my wall. I use it to find falafels. (I get very bummed out when the Muslim community is Indonesian because they do not make falafels.)

Yesterday, after listening to a week of protest, the LAPD decided to kill the mapping plan.

The reversal comes after a week of protests from Muslim groups and civil libertarians, who equated the mapping with religious profiling. Others questioned whether it was possible for the LAPD to accurately map the city's far-flung Muslim community.

Oh, you mean because the law bars the US Census Bureau from asking people about their religion? Yeah, that might be a bit of a problem. But the LAPD said they will still �reach out� to the Muslim Community.

Hey, thanks for getting around to that. It�s only 2007, no need to go too fast, I guess. Muslim leaders are pleased that they won�t be �mapped� and said they will work with the police � as long as the mapping idea does not return. And I�m sure the police will have tremendous success convincing Los Angeles Muslims that they are there to help after this fiasco.

The ACLU on Wednesday filed a public records request for details of the mapping project.

Good idea. Not that I�m suspicious of the LAPD, they have an awesome history as humanitarians, but they could try to start this up again under another name or secretly. Get all the information you can, ACLU, because it�s creepy.

Mary Grady, the LAPD's public information director, said that it made sense to remove the mapping element from the plan. "The whole purpose of this initiative was to bring together the department with the Muslim community. The word 'mapping' gave the impression it was about profiling when it was not."

Right, it was just about finding out where people of a certain religion live, making a map of it and then keeping an eye on those people. Nothing weird about that.

50 Comments

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ButtBoi

Boulder, CO

August 2006

NOV 16, 2007 11:16 AM

It isn't that difficult to do LAPD!

map o muslims in LALALAND

Or they could have just asked the imams, they have already started a mapping project of their own!

defaultx

I'm lost

February 2006

NOV 16, 2007 01:05 PM

a yankee doodle dandy in a gold rolls royce!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawhWb8Uu5E

ndklinst

New Albany, IN

February 2007

NOV 16, 2007 03:51 PM

lucidtrips said:
If they do that I think a US wide mapping program for any right wing christians who attend Jesus camp is the only fair thing to do.

For sure.

Zarth

Seattle, WA

December 2004

NOV 16, 2007 04:04 PM

Chainlink said:

Zarth said:

Ferretbite said:
Yup, Alice Cooper mentioned they should also label illegal immigrants somehow, you know, make them wear something that identifies them, for security reasons, iI wonder if the good people on the LAPD were listening to that show?

Goddamnit. Another over-the-hill rockstar I've just lost all respect for. Tripe like this actually interferes with my ability to enjoy their music. I know it shouldn't, but it does.

You have shattered my world view Sir. Please refrain from destroying any more of my preconceived fantasies of childhood superheros.

Okay.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

d20

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

NOV 16, 2007 04:09 PM

Zarth said:

Chainlink said:

Zarth said:

Goddamnit. Another over-the-hill rockstar I've just lost all respect for. Tripe like this actually interferes with my ability to enjoy their music. I know it shouldn't, but it does.

You have shattered my world view Sir. Please refrain from destroying any more of my preconceived fantasies of childhood superheros.

Okay.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

holy shit. that's like the king of Rule 34's.

xazapdmytinu

Fort Collins, CO

July 2007

NOV 16, 2007 04:25 PM

My question is did they really think that terrorist cells shack up all on the same block and, when not making plans to blow up metro lines and candy stores, they have block parties and weenie roasts?

and FTR, if you could give me your source for your Falafel map you think they could make one for my hometown?

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

NOV 16, 2007 05:30 PM

FearTheReaper said:

Zarth said:

Goddamnit. Another over-the-hill rockstar I've just lost all respect for. Tripe like this actually interferes with my ability to enjoy their music. I know it shouldn't, but it does.

Thankfully I never enjoyed his music.

Alfaduetto

Greeneville, TN

May 2004

NOV 16, 2007 06:04 PM

Could we map the income versus their actual lifestyle cost of all public servants, or are they now called self-servants? How can the chief of police afford such a big house in that neighborhood? He must be a very good investor!

ardour

Ottawa, ON

March 2006

NOV 16, 2007 06:41 PM

Alice Cooper has been saying that kind of shit for a while now.

I'll cut the dude some slack for that, though.

Anyway, it's remarkable how this idea could have ever even been considered to be a good idea. It's no wonder nothing ever seems to be getting better if these are the ideas people are coming up with.

mingol

Singapore

July 2005

NOV 16, 2007 09:33 PM

But the LAPD said they will still "reach out" to the Muslim Community.

The same way they "reach out" to the black community?

mingol

Singapore

July 2005

NOV 16, 2007 09:34 PM

Zarth said:
Goddamnit. Another over-the-hill rockstar I've just lost all respect for. Tripe like this actually interferes with my ability to enjoy their music. I know it shouldn't, but it does.

That made me positively ill.

azrael7

Bay Saint Louis, MS

December 2005

NOV 17, 2007 04:48 AM

It really isn't a bad idea considering Islam has been the problem child of religious faiths. SInce the beginning of creation and still today the world over no other religion causes as much devestation than Islam. In Darfur black muslims and trying to erradicate black africans. I think we should deport all mulims and never allow any to return to the USA, but then again since i was actualy in combat and lost many friends in Iraq I don't expect anyone here to understand.

Zarth

Seattle, WA

December 2004

NOV 17, 2007 05:57 AM

azrael7 said:
It really isn't a bad idea considering Islam has been the problem child of religious faiths. SInce the beginning of creation and still today the world over no other religion causes as much devestation than Islam. In Darfur black muslims and trying to erradicate black africans. I think we should deport all mulims and never allow any to return to the USA, but then again since i was actualy in combat and lost many friends in Iraq I don't expect anyone here to understand.

Um, yeah. Do you know where the term "witch hunt" comes from? "Pogrom"? "Blood libel"?

Was it Muslims who committed the Holocaust?

Just because you were "actualy in combat" doesn't give your racist (and, needless to say, false) generalizations any legitimacy whatsoever.

You should seek help for your PTSD, not turn into a crutch for your hate.

justicia

I'm lost

November 2004

NOV 17, 2007 06:29 AM

Wow, you sure have constructed your little story to defend your hate. Sick. I'm sorry about your experiences in Iraq, and I"m sorry about your confusion about world religions and its racist consequences.

Sometimes I think "Nobody can think that's a good idea', then your post comes along. Thanks for reminding me how much hatred there is in the world, and reinfocing why I'm against the war.

HAL9000

Milwaukee, WI

November 2003

NOV 17, 2007 07:29 AM

Its interesting that you bring this up, because I am having a hard time dealing with this. Several of my family are in the military and when they come back home they sound racist and I don't really understand it. They didn't go in that way and when they come out there is such hatred, its really painful to see someone you love go through this.

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