NY Times THE FEMALE FACTOR: New York Police Video Complicates Muslim Engagement Efforts

Faiza Ali, former Community Affairs Director for CAIR-NY, and Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association were profiled today in an article by the New York Times.

“NEW YORK — Linda Sarsour and Faiza Ali are two people who keenly felt the recent controversy over the film, “The Third Jihad,” which had been shown to some police officers attending a 2010 counterterrorism course offered by the New York City Police Department.

Some Muslim leaders in New York protested against the film and said it would encourage Americans to be suspicious of all Muslims. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the episode had damaged relations between Muslims and the city’s police.

Mrs. Sarsour and Ms. Ali felt damage of a different kind — a setback for their chosen course of speaking out about prejudice, of difficulties in Muslim relations with other Americans, but also in the dealings outspoken Muslim American women like them have with some Muslim men, particularly first-generation male leaders in immigrant communities.”

See full article: (The New York Times)