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CAIR Renews Call for Radio Host's Firing; WASHINGTON, April 27 -The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today renewed its call for the firing of a Boston-area radio talk show host after a newspaper report showed that his anti-Muslim remarkswere even more offensive than first thought. CAIR made its original demand last Friday after receiving a complaint from a concerned listener who said WTKK-FM (http://www.969fmtalk.com) host Jay Severin urged the killing of American Muslims. Quotes from a tape of the actual program obtained by the Boston Globe show that Severin called Muslims a "fifthcolumn"* in America and seemed to confirm the report that he wanted them killed. WTKK denied CAIR's request for a tape of the program. The Globe reported that in a conversation with a caller who suggested that the United States befriend Muslims in this country, Severin said: "I believe that Muslims in this country are a fifth column ... The vast majority of Muslims in this country are very obviously loyal, not to the United States, but to their religion. And I'm worried that when the time comesfor them to stand up and be counted, the reason they are here is to take over our culture and eventually take over our country." "My suspicion is that the majority of Muslims in the United States, who regard themselves as Muslims first and not as Americans really at all, see an American map one day where this is the United States of Islam, not the United States of America. I think it pays to harbor those suspicions." Severin asked the caller: "Do you think we should befriend them?" "Yes," the caller said. "I've got good news for you: We have," Severin replied. "Thanks for the call and that's what I'm worried about." Then, introducing another caller, Severin said: "I have an alternative viewpoint. It's slightly different than yours. You think we should befriend them; I think we should kill them." Severin told the Globe: "To anyone who may have been offended by misunderstanding or misconstruing my remarks, I want you to know that I regret that." "The actual transcript of the program is even worse than what had initially been reported," said CAIR's Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Based on Mr. Severin's claim that Muslim citizens are a 'fifth column' in this country and his apparent belief that they should be killed, we renew our call for his termination." Awad added that CAIR will ask for an FCC investigation of Severin's remarks. Hundreds of concerned Muslims have already contacted the station and its advertisers to ask for Severin's dismissal. At least one advertiser has pulled its ads from the station. Last week, CAIR announced a new campaign designed to counter anti-Muslim hate on radio talk shows. The campaign, called "Hate Hurts America," is based on the premise that the increasing attacks on Islam by talk show hosts harm the United States by creating a downward spiral of interfaith mistrust and hostility. A recent spike in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide has been blamed at least in part on the increase in Islamophobic rhetoric in America. CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 26 regional offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. (* "Fifth column" is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "a clandestine subversive organization working within a country to further an invading enemy's military and political aims." It was first applied in 1936 to rebel sympathizers inside Madrid when four columns of rebel troops were attacking that city.) [READ "RADIO HOST SAYS REMARKS MISCONSTRUED" |