Imam Musa & the DC Police

Many of us are aware of disturbing incidents involving police forces in the U.S. Many times, their brutality goes unnoticed and undocumented, but every once in a while, heinous crimes committed by those who've sworn to "uphold the public safety" are brought to light.

On the afternoon of November 3, 2010, DC police, for no stated reason, held at gunpoint two Muslim sisters, both of whom are respected teachers at our Southeast DC Islamic home-schooling co-op (based at Masjid Al-Islam)--one of whom was Imam Musa's wife. Though neither of the sisters were taken in, Imam Musa was called onto the scene and, after bringing public attention to the blatant harassment of the two sisters, was arrested. Though he was released later in the evening, this incident has brought to the surface several months and years of harassment and pestering carried out by the local police on behalf of "higher powers". After the incident, Imam Musa prepared an open letter to the DC police, which was posted on police cars and distributed to local residents. To read its text, click on the flier image above.

On a related noted, only a few days after the incident with the DC police, Imam Musa was coincidentally (by Allah's will) featured on an RT news piece in which he was asked to comment on the killing of 22-year old Oscar Grant in Oakland, CA, at the hands of a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officer who was recently sentenced. On January 1, 2009, Grant was shot and killed by Johannes Mehserle while he was lying restrained on a train platform. The shooting was captured on several cell phone cameras and the footage is widely available on the Internet. A few days ago, on November 5, 2010, Mehserle was sentenced to two years, minus time served. The RT news segment can be seen below: