Staff Insights

Civil liberties: Unnecessary humiliation is not “normal”

By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion originally appeared at Patheos. Upon my return to the United States from an overseas trip, I was singled out by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for special screening, and then subjected to personal questioning and a humiliating, invasive search… Read More

Offensive caricatures tantamount to shouting ‘fire’ in crowded theater

By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion originally appeared in the San Jose Mercury News (link unavailable). Jerry Ceppos’ op-ed article Tuesday (“We must see cartoons to understand furor”) poses interesting questions about why U.S. newspapers have not shown the offensive Danish cartoons. As a Muslim American, I suggest a number… Read More

Celebrating the Fourth of July – An Arab-Muslim-American’s Journey to Discovering their American-ness

By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion appeared at the ING blog. As an American of Arab ancestry and Muslim background, I’ve always felt slightly disingenuous about becoming emotionally involved in the 4th of July holiday. I was never quite sure about my American-ness, despite my citizenship, nor did I… Read More