Concerned
students and citizens gather to protest FBI raid
Drew Stewart, posted Oct. 6, 2006
Speaker’s
circle was alive with the sound of protest on Sept. 27 and,
for once, it wasn’t coming from local preacher Brother
Jed.
The rally was held
by the Muslim Students Organization and Students for Progressive
Action against the FBI raid of Columbia resident Shakir Hamoodi’s
home on Sept. 18. MU students and Columbia citizens passed
out informational pamphlets and held posters reading “FBI:
we want answers” and “Sorry Teacher, the FBI stole
my homework,” among others. Leading the protest was
MU graduate and local social services worker Steve Jacobs.
 |
Keith Brekhaus speaks at Speakers Circle as University of Missouri-Columbia students representing Students for Progressive Action and the Muslim Student Organization rallied Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2006, in support of Shakir Hamoodi, an Iraqi-American local whose home was raided by the FBI. photo by Colin E. Suchland |
“The FBI
needs to come here and say they made a mistake,” Jacobs
said.
Agents from the
Jefferson City FBI entered and searched Hamoodi’s home,
acting on a search warrant. After entering, the officials
seized boxes from the citizen’s house. The FBI has yet
to reveal their reason for searching Hamoodi’s home.
Some of the protestors
however, had their own opinions on why the event transpired.
“It’s
a tight election this year and the Republicans are losing,”
Jacobs said. “The raids were meant to make the Muslims
feel intimidated. They made it look like something was happening
when it actually wasn’t.”
Others however,
felt the issue transcended race relations and election-year
tensions.
“The FBI
raid isn’t an issue of Muslim vs. non-Muslim,”
Faeza Kahn, public relations officer of the MSO said. “It
was a clear infringement on Hamoodi’s civil rights.”
Yet the protestors
present in speakers circle didn’t come to simply let
off their frustration. Throughout the day, the MSO and SPA
collected signatures in support of an open letter to the Jefferson
City FBI, demanding a public apology to Hamoodi and the return
of all items taken from him and his family. Jacobs drafted
the two-page letter.
“I’m
good friends with Shakir. I know that if the FBI wanted to
search his home, he would’ve let them in peacefully,”
Jacobs said. “What they did was wrong and they need
to come here and admit that.”
The letter was
mailed to the Jefferson City FBI on the evening of Sept. 27.
Jacobs was not available for a follow-up interview concerning
the letter. The FBI has yet to publicly apologize.
Born in
Anah, Iraq, Hamoodi immigrated to Columbia in 1985 to study
at MU and work as an assistant research professor in the school
of engineering. A father of five, Hamoodi has operated International
Harvest and World Grocery on Nifong Boulevard since 2004.
He’s also an active supporter of the humanitarian charity
Life for Relief and Development. Hamoodi’s always spoken
out against violence and terror, Jacobs said.
Whether
the raid on Hamoodi’s home will ever be officially followed
up on is yet to be known. Until then, the Muslim Students
Organization and Students for Progressive Action will adhere
to a demand that beams from one of their many posters.
