On June 20, 2012, a coalition of nearly 40 interfaith and civil rights groups sent a letter  to Rep. Peter King (R-NY) objecting to his most recent hearing on the American Muslim community. The letter describes the hearing as undermining “our nation’s commitment to religious liberty, free association, free speech, and equal protection of the law.” The hearing, “The American Muslim Response to Hearings on Radicalization Within Their Community,” was the fifth in a controversial series of hearings on the threat to U.S. security posed by Islamic radicalization, first convened by King in March 2011.
Groups who signed the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the National Council of Jewish Women. They urged King “to discontinue this series of hearings, which undermines fundamental American values, erodes trust, and fuels divisiveness by casting suspicion over an entire community.”
While past hearings featured witnesses from the law enforcement and military communities, the most recent hearing’s panel consisted of American Muslim doctors, writers, and lawyers tasked with voicing their responses to past hearings from the perspective of those who are, in the words of King, “in the trenches, people who live real lives.”
Devon Chafee, Legislative Council at the ACLU, wrote in an ACLU blog post, that the hearings were “never intended to seriously examine real threats to our national security or the empirical evidence about law enforcement approaches that make us safer.”
The Brennan Center For Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program Co-Director Faiza Patel testified that the hearings only served to further alienate American Muslims. “The best way to keep our country safe is to use facts to drive counterterrorism policy and using religiosity as an indicator [of potential terrorist activity] doesn’t work,” she said.
The committee’s Ranking member, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), was skeptical about the purpose of the hearing. “We are holding today’s hearing to discuss the effect of previous hearings. I am not sure we have ever had a hearing to gauge the effects of prior hearings,” Thompson said. “Given the challenges the nation faces in homeland security . . . I am not sure that a hearing to gauge the effects of our hearings is the most effective use of congressional time and attention.”
Another committee member, Gene Green (D- TX), said that the hearings were not helping make America safer. “[Y]ou have to go beyond discussing the radicalization of Islam, and we’re not doing that,” he said.