Dear President Bienen, On November 5 Congressman Mark Kirk spoke at the 2005 International Institute for Nanotechnology Symposium taking place at Tech.

As the grassroot Muslim civil rights organization, we see a lot of cases of racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims in the state of Illinois. We are here to issue our testimony in support of the proposed legislation by the ACLU-IL regarding traffic stop statistics.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator Christina Abraham presented testimony at the “Subject Matter Hearing on Racial Profiling and Other Related Issues” held by the Illinois Senate at the James R. Thompson Center.

More organizations are signing on to the statement released by CAIR-Chicago condemning Congressman Kirk’s statements that he is “OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states,” and demanding that he apologize.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, Christina Abraham, attended a meeting with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-IL), and other community organizations to prepare for a subject matter hearing addressing issues of racial profiling and the collection of data on police traffic and pedestrian stops.

Dear Representative Kirk: I am writing on behalf of the Illinois Muslim community, the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Chicago chapter.

Yaser Tabbara, Executive Director and Ahmed Rehab, Communications Director, attended Mayor Daley's reception of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Arab Affairs. The reception was in celebration of Arab Heritage Month and took place at the Chicago Cultural Center, GAR Hall: 77 East Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois from 5:50-7:00 p.m.

He was only saying what a lot of people think. And Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was asserting only common sense in saying young Arab men from terrorist-producing countries should face "a certain amount of intense scrutiny" when applying to enter America. Kirk was quick to acknowledge that the view he expressed over the weekend is "politically uncomfortable."

He was only saying what a lot of people think. And Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was asserting only common sense in saying young Arab men from terrorist-producing countries should face "a certain amount of intense scrutiny" when applying to enter America. Kirk was quick to acknowledge that the view he expressed over the weekend is "politically uncomfortable."

Yaser Tabbara, Executive Director and Ahmed Rehab, Communications Director, attended a reception on the Unveiling of New Arabic Brochures and Web Services.

Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, met with representatives of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) Director Hatem Abudayyeh, Suzanne Adely, and Menna Khalil to finalize political, outreach, and media strategies for the Citizenship Delay Project. The Citizenship Delay Project is set to launch within the next few weeks.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Yaser Tabbara and Director of Communications, Ahmed Rehab attended a special celebration held by CAPS at US Cellular Field-Stadium, Thursday evening.

To honor the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs cosponsored an Iftar at a Lakeview Synagogue for Chicago Muslims Sunday, October 23rd. The event held at the Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation (cosponsor) featured prayer, dinner, and plenty of socializing.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Yaser Tabbara, and Director of Communications, Ahmed Rehab, addressed the "Mosque Cares" congregation after the Friday sermon and prayer in Homewood, IL, last Friday.

After a short presentation on the mission and vision of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and on the existing poverty levels in the United States, volunteers were divided into several groups, each with a specific task. CAIR-Chicago volunteers were assigned the task of weighing and packaging cereal.

Muslims at a half-way house were not being allowed to congregate for prayer and iftar during Ramadan. CAIR-Chicago contacted the director of the halfway house.

The Chicago office of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, applauded today Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's efforts to get Washington to send more helicopters and aid to the earthquake-afflicted areas of Pakistan.

CAIR-Chicago is seeking to outreach to the Muslim community by launching it’s new TSA Watch List Project, coordinated by civil rights intern Afia Yunus. This project seeks to look into complaints of Muslims being detained upon re-entry to the country when traveling due to their names being put on a "watch list" by the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA).

As we delve further into the blessed month of Ramadan, CAIR-Chicago has been in full-swing with its outreach efforts to the community. As part of this endeavor, CAIR-Chicago has coordinated short informational updates of its progress during the taraweh (night prayer) gatherings around several Chicagoland mosques.