Closing statement at Paterson City Council’s expected vote on the CLPA

Aref Assaf, President
NJ Chapter,  American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

The Civil Liberties Protection Act

 June 7, 2004 

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

My name is Aref Assaf.  I am the President of the NJ Chapter of the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee.

Tonight, we are about to witness history in the making in these august chambers. Whoever said politics is local will be proven right tonight, as you hopefully will approvingly vote on the Civil Rights Protection Resolution, which ADCNJ has submitted for your consideration. Your decision will send a clear signal to Trenton and Washington that Paterson deeply cares about the security and freedom of all its citizens. 

It may interest you to learn that as of June1, 2004, 311 towns and cities – and four state legislatures (Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, and Maine) – had passed Bill of Rights resolutions instructing the members of Congress from those areas to roll back the most egregiously repressive sections of the Patriot Act, subsequent executive orders, and other extensions of the act. The latest city is Plattsburgh City, NY, which passed the resolution on June 1.

In New Jersey, Montclair passed a similar resolution on April 20 joining eight other municipalities in NJ. 

However, tonight is the prize to be had. Paterson with its 150 thousand residents and unique ethnic and religious composition must rise to claim its rightful place as a defender of the civil and political rights of its citizens.

Suppression of civil liberty in the name of national security is an old story in the United States. It has happened repeatedly in times of war or fear since the early days of the republic. In 1798, just seven years after the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, the Sedition Act made it a crime to criticize the president; the supposed reason was the danger of French Jacobin terror infiltrating America. The Civil War, World Wars I and II, and assorted episodes of national fear were all made occasions for punishing speech and depriving people of due process of law.

It would be an exaggeration to label us as Anti-Patriot Act advocates. We are pro Bill of Rights and US Constitution. Doublets, the almost 90% of the Patriot Act is acceptable to most Americans. It is imperative that all federal agencies collaboratively work to ensure our security and freedoms. It is the remaining 10% that we so strongly believe  is an  unnecessary infringement upon our civil and political rights and their  continued existence has  not  in fact enhanced our security and as such must be amended or altogether abolished. Examples of these excess are as follows:

 
· Section 213 which permits law enforcement to perform searches with no one present and to delay notification of the search of a citizen’s home;
· Section 215 which permits the FBI Director to seek records from bookstores and libraries including books of patrons based on minimal evidence of wrongdoing and prohibits librarians and bookstore employees from disclosing the fact that they have been ordered to produce such documents;
& public universities who must collect information on students that may be of interest to the Attorney General.

 Ladies and gentlemen, the resolution you about to vote on acknowledges that there is no a tension between national security and the preservation of liberty and affirms its strong support of the rights of Americans to be both safe and free. It also recognizes the Constitution of the United States as our nation’s charter of liberty and that the Bill of Rights enshrines the fundamental and inalienable rights of America, including the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly and privacy, and

The Resolution makes it clear that the strongest protection of our civil liberties is present when the Presidency, the Congress and the Courts are accorded their historic roles in counterbalancing powers and assuring that the powers of each branch of government are not abused.

We ought to recount the immortal advice Benjamin Franklins once noted: “Those who forsake liberty for temporary security deserve neither.”

I plead with you to show your support for the United States' Constitution and the Bill of Rights by voting for our Resolution before your this evening.

Thank you