September 20, 2001

Maintain American Freedoms

What happened September 11, 2001 was a horror. We must act to prevent anything like it from happening again. The perpetrators should be brought to justice. We should learn from any mistakes or omissions of law, policy or practice that allowed September 11 to happen, in an effort to keep from suffering through this again.

But while law enforcement needs to proceed with tracking down the perpetrators quickly, the rush to legislate is a mistake. Giving blood right after a disaster is a good idea. Fiddling quickly with the constitution is not. Congress must proceed carefully and slowly, learning comprehensively from errors that were made, in changing the law.

Our experience with the use of secret evidence in deportation proceedings provides clear lessons that can be applied today. People who don’t have access to the charges against them can’t defend themselves no matter how innocent they may be. People who are denied access to the courts will be jailed interminably, and they may be innocent too. In the secret evidence cases, a number of people spent years in jail on what turned out to be flimsy evidence that was easily disproved when finally made public and rebutted in court. Judges in those cases were appalled at the lack of due process given the detainees. All people in the United States have constitutional rights. If we abridge those rights, we cut out the very heart of the Constitution and our essence. We are concerned that provisions in new legislation may expand the number of people facing these kinds of impossible challenges.

We recognize the need to pursue others who may have had a role in these atrocities. Leads to those individuals must be pursued. However all Arab Americans, all Muslims, all people who others think look Afghani, Arab or somehow different must not suffer from those investigations and from ill-informed and/or racist presumptions. We are gratified that high level government officials have spoken out condemning hate crimes. We must remain vigilant as well to ensure that as the government detains those who may have been involved in these outrages, it does not round up hundreds or thousands of individuals on the basis of their beliefs, their associations, their ethnicity or their religion.
 

Historically the government, like the public, has had a problem distinguishing between people who express opinions and those who commit crimes. This is a time like few others when that distinction is crucial. Dissent must be absolutely protected. We have to come to a common agreement about how to modify government policies. Without allowing free exchange of ideas those changes will not be able to happen with public input and a thorough understanding of all their ramifications.

The National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom is a 4 year old group, of national and regional organizations and many individuals. We protect due process and First Amendment rights. Among our member organizations are the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Sikh Mediawatch, National Lawyers Guild, American Muslim Council, Irish Northern Aid Committee, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Arab American Institute, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, Council on American Islamic Relations, National Committee Against Repressive Legislation and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

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