More than 450 people—about half of them from Concrete and other Upper Valley communities—filled the Concrete Assembly of God Church Tuesday night in support of Concrete Elementary School teacher Mary Janda.
The rally also was designed to take a closer look at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a self-described Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. In February, CAIR’s Seattle office filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, asking it to investigate alleged anti-Muslim comments by Janda last October.
Speaking at the rally was ACT! for America Washington Director Kerry Hooks, who was joined by Shahram Hadian, a former Muslim and the founder of the Truth In Love Project. Hadian also was a candidate for governor in last year’s primary election.
ACT! was invited to speak in Concrete after Arlington activist Eric Archuletta—who has been working with the grassroots group Imagine Concrete since 2008—learned of the allegations against Janda and gathered a group of 14 concerned local citizens to discuss CAIR and what should be done to protect Janda’s reputation. The group voted unanimously to invite ACT! to get involved in the situation.
Attendees packed the church sanctuary and spilled into the foyer and a side room. They stood outside in the rain, lining the windows, which were opened so they could hear the speakers. They drove from Wenatchee, Portland, Tacoma, Bellingham, and Seattle. More than three dozen of Janda’s former and current students attended; near the end of the rally they held up signs they’d made, with messages including “In America, accusations require proof,” “Concrete students support Ms. Janda,” and “CAIR is bullying Concrete.”
One of Janda’s former students, Colton Maloney, 20, said he attended the rally to support Janda and respond to his frustration with the way television media had presented the story to this point. “I’ve never met another teacher who put so much effort into our education,” he said. “She put in mile after extra mile.”
The sometimes emotional rally was tempered by the messages presented by Hooks and Hadian, who stated they were there to expose CAIR for what it really is.
“You’re not dealing with a civil rights group. That is a front,” said Hadian. “You are dealing with a group that has billions of dollars behind them from elements that want to further Islamic law.”
Hadian was born in Iran and is now a U.S. citizen. He said he witnessed “oppressive radical Islam” take over his country, and sees the same strategies being used by CAIR to insert its version of Islam into the public school system. “The access they’ve been given in our public schools is not being given to any other group,” he said. “They want specialized treatment for their brand of Islam.”
Hadrian aired CAIR’s allegations against Janda by reading from their letter to Concrete School District Superintendent Barbara Hawkings and from their application to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, which included the following statement:
“This incident concerns us not only as a civil rights issue, but also as a violation of public health and safety. By making the bigoted, misinformed comments that she did, Ms. Janda put an entire classroom of students at risk of going to school in an unsafe and degraded learning environment.”
Hadrian then told the crowd, “This teacher deserves the right to have her name cleared!” and was met with applause.
In the beginning
The incident that started CAIR’s involvement occurred on Oct. 29, 2012, in a classroom discussion between Janda and her students. Bullying was the topic of conversation, since the students had attended a “Rachel’s Challenge” (anti-bullying) school assembly earlier that month. According to a CAIR press release, Janda “reportedly compared Muslims to Nazis during a class lesson on bullying. The teacher allegedly stated that ‘just like Hitler,’ Muslims train their children from birth to give their lives to Allah and are raised to be martyrs. She also allegedly stated that Muslim children are raised and taught to ‘kill innocents.’”
One student told her father—a Muslim convert—about the discussion. The father contacted CAIR-WA instead of the school district or Janda, and in November, CAIR-WA contacted the school district and inquired about the incident.
Hawkings told Concrete Herald she conducted an investigation and responded to CAIR-WA with the results of the investigation, writing in an e-mail to CAIR-WA’s Civil Rights Coordinator Jennifer Gist, “We have completed our investigation. The incident did not involve any adopted curriculum. The building has been focused on bullying. We had participated in Rachel’s Challenge and staff, in conjunction with this national program, was relating stories, news items, or histories of people who have suffered at the hands of bullies as a reminder for all of us to be kind to each other. We welcome communication with the family.”
Janda has maintained that the student misinterpreted her remarks. In a letter written to Hawkings in December, Janda wrote, “When [the student] … said, ‘My father is a Muslim and these statements are not true,’ I explained to her that I was not talking about Arabs and Muslims in general, but groups that chose to impose their will by training people to intimidate and kill other people. This discussion was not about religious beliefs. It is related to a state mandate that public schools teach students about bullying and not allow it.”
In February, CAIR sent its request to the Dept. of Justice and has since requested public records from the Concrete School District, including the following, in addition to an investigation into the alleged incident:
- Ensure that absolutely no retaliation occurs against the father, student, or any other parents (Hadrian noted that CAIR published the father’s name and the student’s photo on its Web site, while asking the media not to name the father or student).
- Provide any and all documents related to the incident.
- Clarify which textbooks and texts are used in the district.
- Clarify which diversity trainings or cultural competency trainings teachers complete.
- Clarify the religious accommodation policies of the district.
- Institute CAIR-WA’s diversity training for all employees of Concrete School District.
The last item drew shouts of disapproval from the audience. Hooks broke in and said of CAIR’s requests, “In legal terms, that’s called ‘unreasonable.’”
“They care nothing about this incident,” said Hadian. “They care about their larger agenda: the advancement of Shari’ah law in America.” Shari’ah law is “the constitution of Islam,” he said.
Roots in the Muslim Brotherhood
Hadian’s remarks included a history of CAIR and related organizations. He traced CAIR’s roots to the Muslim Brotherhood, which got its start in 1928 in Egypt, and recited the brotherhood’s creed: “Allah is our objective; the Koran is our law; the Prophet is our leader; jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”
The Muslim Brotherhood had direct ties with the Nazis during World War II, said Hadian, and appeared in the U.S. in 1962. In 1987 it formed Hamas; later, it formed CAIR.
“The Muslim Brotherhood created CAIR. It is directly connected to Hamas” and other splinter groups, such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda, according to statements made by Hadian.
In the Holy Land Foundation trial from 2007–08, prosecutors discovered a memo detailing a long-term plan from the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate America and all of its systems, including churches, schools, government, and more, said Hadian. “One hundred and eight members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested, charged, convicted, and are in prison,” he said. “In the meantime, a new attorney general—Eric Holder—comes on and they begin to squash this case. So a bunch of people like CAIR are named as unindicted co-conspirators, because the Obama administration sealed the documents.”
Hadian repeatedly clarified his points; specifically, which groups he was referencing during his remarks. “This is not about Arabs or Muslims in general. This is about seditious groups to this nation,” he said. “This is not conjecture. This is not bigotry. This is documentation.”
Hadian also quoted CAIR’s founder, Omar Ahmad, as having said, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on the Earth.”
CAIR’s current executive director, Nihad Awad, was quoted by Hadian as having said, “Who better can lead America than Muslims?”
ACT! for America
Hooks responded to possible perceptions of ACT! by running through a laundry list of what the organization is not. “We’re not a hate group. We’re not Nazis. We’re not a religious group—we do not want a theocracy,” she said. “We do not criticize CAIR for advocating for Muslims, but we do criticize them for their ties to Hamas, which is a State Department-named terrorist group.”
Founded in 2007 by Brigitte Gabriel, ACT! for America claims to be nonpartisan and nonsectarian, a grassroots organization that concerns itself with human rights, national security, terrorism, and the threat of radical Islam and Shari’ah law.
ACT! attended the rally to support Janda, said Hooks. “She was accused of bigotry with no evidence, tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. Her good name and spotless reputation is being smeared. If CAIR was interested in protecting Janda, they would have protected her name until the investigation was complete. They did not. They smeared her name.”
With great flourish, Hooks at one point emptied a bag of support letters for Janda onto the platform—about 1,200 letters—which were given to Janda after the rally. Earlier, Hooks said that the outpouring of support for Janda was greater than any in recent memory.
During the Q&A session near the end of the rally, one man, who was wearing a cloth over his face, said he was masked “to show the cowardice of the accuser.” Another noted the lack of Seattle media that had attended CAIR’s February press conference, leading Hooks to suggest a headline for them: “Concrete stands up to CAIR.”
Scott Richmond from Marblemount voiced his own headline: “Not in our town. Not with Mary Janda.”