Bill Text: CA SCR166 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Islamophobia: anti-Palestinian hate.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-07-03 - Introduced. Referred to Com. on RLS. [SCR166 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SCR166-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 166
| Introduced by Senator Newman |
July 03, 2024 |
Relative to Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 166, as introduced, Newman.
Islamophobia: anti-Palestinian hate.
This measure would condemn any act of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian discrimination in the State of California in order to promote tolerance and acceptance of people of all religious beliefs, ethnicities, and national origins. This measure would also declare that it’s intent is not to diminish the rights of anyone to freely engage in any speech or other activity protected by the United States Constitution.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, Freedom of religion holds the distinction of being a cherished right and a fundamental value upon which the law and ethics of the United States are based; and
WHEREAS, Enriched by the unparalleled diversity of its residents, the State of California takes great pride in supporting individual religious freedoms and is strengthened by the diverse religious, political, and cultural traditions of its residents, including Americans who practice Islam and those of Palestinian ethnicity; and
WHEREAS, The United Nations defines Islamophobia as the fear, prejudice, and hatred of Muslims or non-Muslim individuals that leads to provocation, hostility, and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement, and intimidation of Muslims and non-Muslims, both in the online and offline world, motivated by institutional, ideological, political, and religious hostility that transcends into structural and cultural racism that targets the symbols and markers of being a Muslim; and
WHEREAS, The United Nations General Assembly in 2022 passed Resolution 76/254 condemning Islamophobia and designating March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia; and
WHEREAS, The American Bar Association, the largest association of lawyers globally and the nation’s leading legal association, in 2023 passed Resolution 524 condemning Islamophobia; and
WHEREAS, The United States is home to one of the largest Palestinian diasporas in the world with Palestinian migration to the United States dating back to the late 19th century; and
WHEREAS, Incidences of hate continue to impact the Muslim and Palestinian community nationwide and have drastically increased in the past year. In 2023, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported over 8,061 complaints from the Muslim community nationwide, over half of which were reported in the last 3 months of 2023. These reports include incidents of harassment, workplace discrimination, infringement of the right to free speech, and bullying of K-12 and higher education students from peers, teachers, professors, and administrators; and
WHEREAS, Occurrences of violence, including, but not limited to, stabbings, shootings, and assaults, have befallen individuals of Arab descent; and
WHEREAS, On October 14, 2023, at 11:30 am, six-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume was brutally stabbed 26 times by a hate-driven perpetrator and tragically succumbed to those injuries in Chicago. Wadea al-Fayoume’s perpetrator has been indicted for a hate crime by the Will County, Illinois grand jury, as there is evidence the perpetrator yelled during the brutal killing, “All Muslims should die” and has been observed to be a consumer of media containing dehumanizing and hateful rhetoric that was anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian; and
WHEREAS, On November 3, 2023, an Arab Muslim student at Stanford University was the victim of a hit-and-run crash where the driver struck the victim while shouting expletives. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime; and
WHEREAS, On the evening of November 25, 2023, three Palestinian college students, Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed, were confronted and shot while speaking Arabic and wearing the keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, while walking in Burlington, Vermont. They sustained critical injuries, including one victim left paralyzed from the chest down; and
WHEREAS, No one should be a target of hate because of their ethnicity or religion, expressed verbally or through how one dresses, including, but not limited to, wearing a hijab or keffiyeh; and
WHEREAS, Dehumanizing misinformation and disinformation fuels sentiments of hate that result in violence against those who belong, or who are perceived to belong, to a certain ethnic or religious group; and
WHEREAS, The State of California actively promotes tolerance of all faiths, religions, ethnicities and national origins; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature joins with people everywhere in unequivocally condemning all forms of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian discrimination and rejecting attempts to justify Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hatred or violent attacks as an acceptable expression of disapproval or frustration over political events; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature condemns any act of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian discrimination in the State of California in order to promote tolerance and acceptance of people of all religious beliefs, ethnicities, and national origins in accordance with the rights afforded to each person by the Founding Fathers of this nation and the authors of the United States Constitution; and be it further
Resolved, That nothing in this resolution is intended to diminish the rights of anyone to freely engage in any speech or other activity protected by the United States Constitution; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
