Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 12-18-15 Edition

Features
Local Muslims Speak Out On Outrageous Statements By Trump
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
Ever since presi- dential candidate Donald Trump made the statement that all Muslims need to be forced out of the country and not al- lowed to return, there has been a national outcry to force him to retract the statement.
Not only has
Trump not apolo-
gized for the state-
ment, he’s garnered support from the Republican Party and Americans who support him.
Jarvis El-Amin said what Trump is saying is the same as it was after 9/11.
“We have to let people know what we stand for and who we are. We know there’s a lot of fear, but hat fear has to be in perspective. I tip my hat to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) for the way they are handling this.
“Our approach is to not condemn the entire Muslim community for the acts of some extremists. The media has been somewhat bi- ased in its reporting, and has fed the paranoia that Trump and oth- ers have spread among the American people.”
El-Amin said people like Trump are keeping the fear stirring among the American people, and they don’t understand Islam.
“If they’d bother to find out what and who we are, they will find the truth. These extremists don’t represent the true doctrine of Islam, and we are the best weapon for law enforcement agencies to use to expose and flush out these people. We want to dispel their rhetoric, and expose them for who they really are.
“It’s a shame people like Trump can’t see the difference be- tween immigrant Muslims and American Muslims. In his mind, all Muslims are the same. It would be no different to say all white peo- ple are members of the Klan.”
Muaaz Hassan, Research and Special Project Coordinator for CAIR said, the rhetoric being used by Trump is “un-American and dangerous.
“It’s the same that was spread against the Jews by the Nazis. It’s sad to see this. We need to make sure we expose these radical hate groups for what they are.
“They have infiltrated the mainstream Republican Party and only fed the radical prejudices that only a few have used to separate themselves from the rest of the country. I think this is being used as a political football by politicians.
Hassan said you can’t condemn an entire religion because of the acts of some extremists who have their own agenda.
“I think what keeps getting lost in all this is that Muslims are also under attack by these people.
“Trump is bringing back the atrocities of the Holocaust, and people are actually listening and cheering his outrageous state- ments. That means there’s still a lot of work to do in this country to improve race relations.”
MUAAZ HASSAN
JARVIS EL-AMIN
First Black Florida Chief Justice, Leander Shaw, Dies
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Monday, Justice Lean- der Shaw, the first Black Florida Chief Justice, died fol- lowing a lengthy illness. Justice Shaw was 85-years-old.
“Justice Shaw served Florida with dedication and dis- tinction, first as a lawyer and then as a member of Florida’s highest court for two decades. As Florida’s first African American Chief Justice, his service also marked an important step for- ward for diversity in our state.
“On behalf of Florida’s entire legal community, the judicial branch of government and my colleagues on the Supreme Court, I offer sincere condo- lences to his family,” Chief Jus- tice Jorge Labarga said.
A native of Salem, Virginia, Justice Shaw graduated from West Virginia State College in
JUSTICE LEANDER J. SHAW, JR. 9/6/1930 --- 12/14/2015
1952, with a B. A. degree.
After completing college, Justice Shaw became a mem- ber of the U. S. Army and served a tour of duty during the Korean
Conflict.
He returned to college after
his honorable discharge from the Army and earned his J. D. degree from Howard University, School of Law, in 1957. For the next three years, Justice Shaw taught at the Florida A & M Uni-
versity, School of Law.
A pioneer of the Civil Rights
Era, it was during the segrega- tion era in 1960 that Justice Shaw and 25 other Blacks took the Bar Exam at the old DuPont Plaza in Miami. However, Blacks were not allowed to spend the night at the hotel. He became one of a few African American attorneys in the state.
During his tenure as a prac- ticing attorney, Justice Shaw worked in private practice as well as serving as the Assistant Public Defender and an Assis- tant State Attorney in Jack- sonville. As a prosecutor, Justice Shaw prosecuted 42 murder cases and only lost 1.
He was appointed to the bench in 1979 and presided over the First District Court of Ap- peal. He was then appointed as the second African American Justice of the Florida Supreme Court by then Governor Bob Graham.
At the time of his appoint- ment, Justice Shaw came into a system that had been rocked with scandal. He was appointed under a new system.
In 1990, Justice Shaw be- came the first African American to serve as the Chief Justice for the Florida Supreme Court. He retired in 2003.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Margaret Shaw, 5 chil- dren, other family members and friends. One of his children is Attorney Sean Shaw, of Tampa.
Justice Shaw will be buried at Arlington Cemetery. Funeral services were incom- plete at press time.
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