As far as Michigan’s Oakland County Times is concerned, this was all about a Muslim woman being robbed of her dignity and having that dignity restored by means of a monetary settlement (the amount of which remains discreetly undisclosed). So all’s well that ends well, but there is more to this case than just dignity lost and restored: the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has once again demonstrated that it has mastered the art of the shakedown.
The lost-and-found dignity in question was that of Helana Bowe, a hijab-wearing Muslim woman who was pulled over for a routine traffic stop on 8 Mile Road in Ferndale, Mich., in October 2021. According to the Times’ report, she was “subsequently arrested,” although the Times does not bother to explain why. After all, people who are stopped for speeding or running a red light and the like are usually given a ticket and sent on their way. But for some undisclosed reason, Helana Bowe was taken to the station and booked, and that’s where her troubles really began.
At the police station, according to the Times, Bowe “was searched by a male officer and had her hijab (Islamic head scarf) forcibly removed for the booking photo.” This “not only cost Helana Bowe her dignity,” but has now cost the City of Ferndale as well, as it has paid Bowe and CAIR to make the case go away. Nor will this ever happen again: CAIR’s Michigan chapter crowed that “the city of Ferndale and Bowe have reached a full and satisfactory settlement of this matter that involved the city instituting new policies allowing Muslim women to maintain their hijab when a booking photo is taken and prohibiting cross-gender searches in the absence of an emergency as well as a monetary settlement.”
CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Amy V. Doukoure was likewise exultant, saying: “We are pleased to announce this settlement and believe that the policies that Ferndale has put in place will help protect the religious rights of Muslim women who may find themselves in their custody. It is important to remember that the Constitution was written to protect those who are most vulnerable, and many of the rights protected by the Bill of Rights were enacted to safeguard our freedoms, specifically during interactions with law enforcement. Religious freedoms remain intact, even when facing arrest or incarceration.” The Bill of Rights! Religious freedoms! Who could possibly object?
A recent story from Australia illustrates why the celebrations of diversity might be a bit premature. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on May 5 about a woman named Kailee Mitz, who was doing time in an Australian prison for trying to smuggle meth into the country. One day Mitz was minding her own business at Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre “when she was ambushed by Momena Shoma — a convicted Islamic militant — who tried to kill her with a pair of gardening shears that had been secreted in her headscarf.”
You lose your dignaty when you are arrested and taken to jail
