The FBI treated routine Islamic practice as a radicalization red flag

Evidence

One of the intended objectives of the racialization process is making the stakes of practicing Islam high in terms of liberty and dignity. The FBI’s counterterrorism mandate, thus, is informed by specious theories of radicalization associating Islamic practices with terrorist tendencies. Praying frequently at mosques, growing a beard, refraining from drinking alcohol, and criticism of the US war in Afghanistan or Iraq triggered FBI suspicion of terroristic plans. Thus, law enforcement attention is directed at Muslims with ideologies the government deems “radical”—the same reasoning that criminalized Black Muslim civil rights activists decades earlier. Only by secularization and assimilation into White Protestant norms, that is, by becoming a model Muslim minority, can a Muslim evade the heavy hand of the security state. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 936 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security named Minneapolis as one of the pilot cities where Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) policing would be implemented. CVE was a recently established program, formally implemented by the Obama administration in 2011, whereby local law enforcement (the Minneapolis Police Department) collaborated closely with federal security agents to help identify prospective “homegrown radicals” and try to prevent them from enlisting with a terrorist organization or taking part in a terror attack. CVE policing focused almost entirely on Muslims and concentrated on Muslim communities like the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis that Ahmed called home. Religious piety was considered by CVE policing policy to be one of the signals of a Muslim becoming radicalized, particularly when the shift toward religiosity was an abrupt one. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 360 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The NYPD’s radicalization model criminalizes ordinary Muslim piety and activism; Routine Muslim religious practices trigger FBI terrorism suspicion under radicalization theory — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 936; CVE policing treated religious piety as a signal of radicalization. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 360 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Routine Muslim religious practices trigger FBI terrorism suspicion under radicalization theory #corroborates (1.00) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 936
• CVE policing treated religious piety as a signal of radicalization. #corroborates (0.92) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 360