WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday voiced concerns over a proposed anti-terrorism bill that would give the federal government broader wire-tapping authority and the power to indefinitely detain immigrants suspected of wrongdoing.
Sharpton said the legislation could lead to increased racial profiling.
"The threat of this anti-terrorist bill in my judgment is to rob the civil rights and civil liberties, and in fact, dignity of people in an era where it is absolutely understandable in terms of outrage, but is misdirected if we go back to things that divide Americans rather than unite Americans," said Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, a social justice organization.
Sharpton told reporters during a news conference at the National Press Club he was outraged over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that leveled the World Trade Center twin towers in New York and the damaged the Pentagon building outside Washington. Still, he said he was concerned the legislation being crafted by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and others in the Bush administration had dangerous implications for Muslims, Arab Americans or people who resemble those responsible for the attacks.
At issue is proposed legislation that would use immigration laws to detain indefinitely and deport dangerous individuals without judicial review or oversight. It would also expand wire-tapping authority, allowing the government to tap cell phones and trace computer correspondence as well as gain access to financial assets belonging to terrorists.
Since the attacks, federal officials have been struggling with legislation and regulations aimed at making the nation's airports and borders safer while reducing the number of terrorist operatives living and working within the United States. Reports have surfaced that the men responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center took advantage of immigration laws and lax airport and border security to carry out their assaults.
Harvard University law professor Charles J. Ogletree said racial profiling has gone from police targeting black American males in stops, which has been tolerated in the war on drugs over the past decade, to singling out people who happen to be black, but not American.
"The toughest time our country has ever faced with an actual attack on our property, hitting domestic citizens, targeting completely innocent people, our country has declared war and our president has made it clear he wants people who have been identified dead or alive," said Ogletree, Sharpton's legal adviser. "It's our hope that talking about the issue of racial profiling to persuade our leaders to choose life over death and to choose a legal process -- to punish those who are identified as guilty -- and to avoid profiling, stereotyping and detaining and punishing those who are completely innocent."
Sharpton told United Press International that Bush's meeting on Wednesday with Muslim and Sikh leaders to promote a message of racial and ethnic tolerance would not be consistent should he choose to back the anti-terrorism bill proposal.
"He can't have it both ways," Sharpton said.
Ashcroft on Monday defended the proposal before the House Judiciary Committee saying, "the American people do not have the luxury of time in erecting the necessary defense to future terrorist acts" and "terrorism is a clear and present danger to Americans today."
But Sharpton said the bill demonstrated an attempt at "the right-wing lockdown of America" that his organization and supporters have tried to resist in the years since raising awareness around racial profiling to the public's attention.
"To begin targeting race and religion will divide people who need to be united in the face of these threats. And not only will it not protect us from terrorism, it will break the morale of the citizens who ought to be united and stand together at this time," Sharpton said.
He plans to take his message combating terrorism and promoting peace to Israel in mid-October. There, he said, he plans to hold talks with Israelis and Palestinians who have been victims of terrorism.
Sharpton also praised Rev. Jesse Jackson's efforts to broker a peace deal with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, who President Bush and federal authorities say have been harboring Saudi exile and Muslim extremist Osama bin Laden. The U.S. government has identified bin Laden and his organization al Qaida as the prime suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks.
