A second photo of a St. Paul police officer dressed in a Muslim hijab surfaced late this week, packing an extra wallop: The officer appears to be wearing blackface makeup.

The two pictures, apparently taken at parties in 2010 and 2012, have set off a storm of criticism from some Somali and Muslim community members who feel mocked and belittled by the images. St. Paul City Council Member Melvin Carter III called out the second image for the officer's apparent use of blackface makeup. The first image did not include blackface makeup.

"The actions of the officers depicted in these photos are offensive and embarrassing," Carter said in a written statement. "Mocking culture, skin color and religion for a laugh may seem trivial, but any behavior that violates the sacred, essential trust between our officers and residents is reckless and inexcusable."

The first photo surfaced on Twitter Sunday, depicting K-9 officer Robert Buth dressed as a Somali Target employee in a red jilbaab, a type of hijab. The second photo surfaced Wednesday on an anonymous Twitter account, was e-mailed anonymously to police Chief Thomas Smith Thursday morning and gained more momentum on Twitter Friday.

In the second image, an officer, who hasn't been identified by the department, is wearing an orange jilbaab and what appears to be blackface makeup. Police said it's unclear if the second officer was a sworn officer at the time the photo was taken, apparently in 2010. It appeared to originate on Facebook before it landed on Twitter.

Smith immediately opened investigations into both photos when they came to his attention.

"I'm disappointed and upset that officers in this organization may have poorly represented themselves," Smith said. "My thing is that you're an officer 24 hours a day, both on-duty and off-duty, and I'm not going to tolerate anything that could put a blemish on our St. Paul Police Department and our strong relationship with the communities that we serve."

Although St. Paul officials have not commented on whether the officer is wearing blackface makeup, many community members believe he is, said Lori Saroya, executive director of the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR-MN). "We're getting a lot of calls from the community," she said. "I think it's a lot more serious. It just opens a whole other door."

CAIR-MN offered to provide diversity training for Buth, and will now call for department-wide training, Saroya said. "The one incident was seen as an anomaly," she said. "Now with two incidents, it's raising more concern about why officers think it's OK to mock other people's culture and religion."

Star Tribune, 8 February 2013

See also St Cloud Times and Pioneer Press.

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The region of Bremen in northern Germany on Friday said it would be the second of the country's 16 states to recognise Muslim holidays.

"I am delighted because Islam and Muslims are part of our city and part of our life," said the mayor of the city state, Jens Böhrnsen, after signing the deal with representatives of the local Muslim community. The agreement signed reflects "mutual recognition and respect of mutual values," added the mayor.

The deal will allow members of the community to take days off work for Muslim celebrations, although they will not receive paid holiday.

It needs to be ratified in the Bremen state parliament, as well as by city authorities. Two weeks ago, the city state of Hamburg signed a similar agreement.

Under that accord, Muslims in Hamburg will have the right to three religious holidays but will have to take them as part of their overall holiday entitlement as is the case for some regionally observed Christian holidays.

Until that point, it was up to employers to decide whether to grant Muslim staff religious days off.

AFP, 1 December 2012

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Campaigners have sworn to flood the streets of Walthamstow with demonstrators if an English Defence League (EDL) march planned for October goes ahead.

We Are Waltham Forest (WAWF) clashed with the EDL when it thwarted the group's attempt to march through Forest Road on September 1, blocking off part of the route with 3,000 protesters, and vowed to come again in larger numbers if the extremists return.

The EDL, which describes itself as a movement against Islamic extremism and denies claims it is racist, has announced a planned return to Walthamstow on October 27, postponing a demonstration in Norwich to come.

Leader Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said in a statement: "We're going back to Walthamstow and when we say we have to let bygones be bygones with many people across the EDL, everyone's welcome back. We need every man that's game going into east London on October 27. Roll on Walthamstow."

WAWF spokeswoman Sophie Bolt condemned the move. "It's utterly contemptible that the EDL have plans to march again," she said. "We will not be intimidated by these racist thugs. It's an abuse of our community to try and use Walthamstow to make some point.

"We will be coming out again and we will be calling on all those around the area who oppose fascism and the politics of the EDL to come and join us in a peaceful protest. There will be more than 3,000 of us."

A police spokeswoman said: "If this march, and any counter protest, goes ahead the Met will put in place an operation that allows both groups to hold a peaceful protest as is their legal right.

"We also have a duty to prevent crime or disorder, and minimise the impact that the protests may have on the local community."

Waltham Forest Guardian, 12 September 2012

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An Evergreen Cemetery grave was defaced with anti-Islamic writing sometime during the night on Aug. 28-29, said Evergreen Park Police Lt. Peter Donovan. 

The grave site, which also features a bench and obelisk, was vandalized with black marker scribblings in a manner almost identical to what was discovered and cleaned up two weeks ago, Donovan said. Unlike the prior incident, however, a video camera was trained on the scene.

The graffiti features profanity, gang symbols and anti-Islamic slurs. This marks the seventh time that this particular site has been vandalized since March 2011, each time in very similar fashion, Donovan said. 

In response to the incident several weeks ago the cemetery installed lights around the grave site and police mounted a camera. Detectives are reviewing any footage that may have been captured the night of the most recent incident, Donovan said. 

After the mid-August incident area Muslim group's denounced the crime and announced that they would be following up with both local and federal law enforcement agencies. 

Evergreen Park Patch, 1 September 2012

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This is the second part of my blog that was speaking about the 2^nd round of the Egyptian Presidential Elections. The second round is between Mohamed Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafiq, the ex Vice-President of Hosni Mubarak. I have discussed Ahmed Shafiq in the previous post and I am intending to discuss Mohamed Morsi in this one, and again, this is my opinion and my opinion only, other people on this website might disagree with me, but I am entitled to my opinion. That being said lets initiate.

Q: How did Mohamed Morsi get enough votes to enter the 2^nd round of the elections?

A: it is very simple and it was expected especially after the results of the parliament elections where the Muslim Brotherhood achieved more than 40% of the chairs. So it is only logical that a candidate backed by the Muslim Brotherhood will get enough votes. Firstly, he got the votes of the followers of the Brotherhood and the people who believe in them. Secondly, and I am sad to say this, but in the poor areas and in the country side a great amount of votes were bought, whether its gas cylinders, sugar, rice or money. But again, it was expected for him to elevate to the 2^nd round it was not a surprise.

Q: Is it a good thing if he wins the second round and becomes the President?

A: Despite the fact that he is against the old Regime, but I am talking about him, regardless of the opposition, for starters, all the local councils, the unions, the two houses of parliament. All of these are in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood, no matter how you agree or disagree with them, but giving one faction everything in the country, they will have no opposition and no one would have the power to correct them, so it is basically the same as the old regime, but an Islamic version of it. Also, one of the main responsibilities of the parliament is to correct and watch over the actions of the President, if they are both the same, how will a person judge himself?

Q: Will Egypt end up like Iran or Afghanistan under an Islamic Regime if Mohamed Morsi becomes president?

A: I hope not, and so far with the way things are going, it is not going that way. Although, neither did Iran, but once they controlled the whole country, they started to execute the opposition and no one dares to oppose the ruling regime in Iran. Is the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt the same? No. Will they become the same? I believe so, because ultimate power corrupts the best of people, and if they are given Egypt with all of its power and chairs, they will not permit any opposition.

One last note, the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for the assassination of Anwar El Sadat, the president of Egypt, a faction that considers assassination to those who opposes them. This shows you a glimpse of their mentality and the way they look at their opposition.

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As promised in the end of my last post, I will discuss the 2nd round of the Egyptian Presidential elections. It is between the candidate of the Islamic political party backed by the Muslim Brotherhood “Mohamed Morsi” and the ex-vice president “Ahmed Shafiq”. So far, as a Christian in Egypt, I haven’t decided yet, I have to choose the lesser evil out of the two but thinking of it, one of them already killed me and the other will, so it is kind of hard to make such choice.

Starting with Ahmed Shafiq, he is basically the old regime of Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, electing him as president eliminates and deletes the revolution. He have declared more than once that he is against the revolution and the rebels, so one can only wonder what is he going to do to all of these rebels once he is president. He have also declared that he looks up to the ex president and that he is his role model. So by all means, he is the exact”OLD REGIME” that the people rose up against.

The question is how did he secure enough votes to get into the 2nd round if he is so hated?

I have discussed this during my podcast, the first portion of the votes he secured were bought, as mentioned he is backed by the old regime, so he has no problem with money, so buying votes of poor people is pretty easy. The second portion is the people who lie in the age group of over 45 years old, as they see that things were stable before the revolution of the 25th of January and they want things to go back as they were. And as mentioned Ahmed Shafiq represents the old Regime, so voting for him will make things go as they were before. And the third portion, although I have no proof, but I believe that many votes were fraud, because there are many dead people whose social security numbers are in the voters log, and they have the right to vote which is very suspicious.

Who is going to vote for Ahmed Shafiq in the 2nd round?

The people mentioned above, plus the people who are against any religious candidate, even if they are against Ahmed Shafiq, but they will have no other choice. People who voted for other candidates such as Hamden Sabahy and Abo el Fetouh or Amr Moussa, not all of them of course but some of them who are against the idea of a religious regime will vote for him.

Am I going to vote for Ahmed Shafiq?

I haven’t decided yet who my vote is going to, but voting for him would be against all I believe in, but on the other hand, so does voting for Mohamed Morsi. The moment that I decide who am I going to vote to, you will be the first to know.

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