(COLUMBUS, OHIO 9/12/2020) On Saturday, September 5, 2020, the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) held a youth talk titled “Courageous Conversations” at the Islamic Center of Centerville located in Washington Township, a suburb of Dayton.
(COLUMBUS, OH – 9/9/2020) – The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) seeks an apology from Monroe City Councilman Tom Callahan for his Islamophobic and inflammatory remarks that he made on July 14, 2020 at the Monroe City Council meeting.
(COLUMBUS, OHIO, 07/24/2020) – On Tuesday, July 22, the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) testified against Senate Bill 317, a bill that would drastically reduce the safety training requirements for teachers carrying guns in Ohio elementary, middle and high schools. In the absence of statewide training and oversight, Ohio schools could choose to send their teachers and staff to dangerous private training programs that promote anti-Muslim bigotry and stereotyping.
(COLUMBUS, OH – 7/20/2020) – The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) today urged the Ohio Senate to reject Senate Bill 317, a bill that would drastically reduce the safety training requirements for teachers carrying guns in Ohio elementary, middle and high schools.
(CINCINNATI, OH, 7/9/2020) – The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) called today for an independent investigation of allegations made against West Chester Township Police Chief Joel Herzog who allegedly made racist and sexist remarks targeting Muslims, Indians, African-Americans, Latinos, and women.
Herzog has been accused by his two captains of retaliation, racism, sexism, mishandling of public records and failure to address sexual harassment. The West Chester Township trustees hired a private law firm to conduct an investigation into these allegations.
(COLUMBUS, OHIO, 07/03/2020) – On both Saturday, June 13th and 20th, the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) held Black Lives Matter solidarity rallies in downtown Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati.
The events featured diverse local Muslim community members from various mosques and local racial justice activists. The purpose of these events was to continue raising awareness around the issue of racism and to illustrate that the Muslim community stands with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Serving as Executive Director of Muslim Family Services – Ohio (MFS-Ohio), Nicol Ghazi leads an organization that is committed to empowering families to lead self-sufficient lives. The comprehensive services include providing resettlement support, jobs and skills training, advocacy, access to a food pantry, and government assistance. Nicol is charged with overseeing the organization’s educational services, coordinating the food pantry, managing client support with caseworkers, and more.
Mariam Elgafy, a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati and the force behind Dayton Muslims for Humanity (DMH), launched the DMH mask initiative, in collaboration with the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton. After realizing the lack of available face masks in her community, Mariam and a group of volunteers work to assemble and distribute face masks to essential workers and those in need.
Meet Sister Jackie Othman, the case coordinator at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati (ICGC). She has been coordinating the weekly food pantry for her community for the last two years through ICGC’s Social Services. This includes handling logistics, picking up available food items from grocers, and repackaging the items for the pantry’s clients.
(COLUMBUS, OH, 1/3/20) – The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called today for the arrest and prosecution of a man who allegedly
(COLUMBUS, OH, 6/13/19) The Columbus Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) today launched a petition urging Ohioans to call on their representatives in Congress to support the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 and to pressure China to close its concentration camps where up to 3 million Uyghur Muslims are being held arbitrarily.
(COLUMBUS, OH – May 25, 2018) CAIR-Columbus today announced the successful resolution of a lawsuit against the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem for unreasonably delaying an immigrant visa for the Palestinian wife of a U.S. citizen. The couple was married in 2015 and promptly filed the appropriate applications immediately thereafter. Once USCIS sent the application to the US Consulate in Jerusalem it sat unadjudicated for well over two years causing the couple to remain separated unnecessarily – the husband living in the United States and the wife remaining in Palestine.
On Sunday, March 11, more than 400 people turned out for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Columbus chapter’s (CAIR-Columbus) 21st Annual Banquet to support the advocacy organization’s civil rights work.
Guest speakers included Dr. Altaf Hussain, Imam Suhaib Webb, and comedian Jeremy McClellan.
CAIR-Columbus received documents of recognition from Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Columbus City Council, Columbus City Mayor Andrew Ginther, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, and Ohio State Senate Minority Leader Kenny Yuko.
Senator Brown also recorded a message for the occasion:
To view the banquet photos click here
From Thursday, November 30 through Saturday, December 2, the Columbus, Ohio, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) organized two crisis response trainings and three women’s self-defense trainings. The trainings, which were attended by 200 people over the three-day period, were conducted by Nezar Hamze, the Deputy Director of CAIR-Florida.
Hamze covered a wide array of topics including how to use self-defense weapons, such as pepper spray, and during the women’s self-defense trainings, taught participants hand-to-hand self-defense tactics.