At the 910 Group Blog, here’s a fascinating audio recording of a CAIR briefing on the six non-flying imams, in which CAIR executive director Nihad Awad complains about how hard it is to get the numbers they need to make their discrimination charges stick: Audio from CAIR’s Meeting on 6 Imams at ADAMS Center.

There were 196 cases reported by the Justice Department for Muslims in civil rights cases. There were over 1008 cases reported by the Jewish faith. We need to do a much better job not only in recognizing our civil rights but also in reporting it to the government. Which is very critical and very important.

And that is why, I think, this kind of program is important to the purpose of being able to inform the government official places …[garbled].

We will talk about the case, about the case of the imams, about the implications, about where the case is now…we’ll talk about the 6 imams case…Muslims who fly within the states, and also the lawsuit that we helped file, and the reaction, both in public, in the media and in Congress. What it means to civil rights and what it means to Muslims. This is very important. You will know that history is being made.

…It is very important for Muslims to understand the law, and it’s also very important for Muslims to exercise their legal rights in the country. And it’s also important that if these rights are violated, that Muslims recognize that these rights are violated. Many Muslims,they are discriminated against or mistreated, they overlook or ignore or they are afraid to say or challenge or report these mistreatments. Which means, more of the same will take place against the same person or persons or against Muslims. And when people stand up and say something and challenge them, then there will be change.

But the psyche of Muslims have to change. The laws are there, fortunately, but the laws are not utilized. They’re not understood and they’re not followed by the victimizers or the victims. So there’s a lot of ignorance about the law, and that’s why Muslims usually find themselves being mistreated or discriminated against. Reporting to an organization like CAIR is important, because it is empowering. It is empowering to the Muslims themselves who report, it is empowering to the organization, and it is important to the status of Muslims within the United States. Also it is a powerful tool and message to the government and the legislators, to those who make the laws in the country, to know that this phenomenon has to be dealt with, it has to be dealt with effectively, and results have to be seen….

The Department of Justice, in their annual report, don’t be surprised that if you feel Muslims are not treated well in the country, that the number of reports of incidents against Muslims or hate crimes is very low. Whereas the number of incidents and hate crime cases against the Jewish community is very very high. Maybe dozens of [incidents] against Muslims, but against Jews are in the thousands. But when you examine the situation you say, We really feel our community is more targeted.