(ATLANTA, GA - 6/13/2019) The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today encouraged people of all faiths and backgrounds to join "Ending Mass Incarceration: Let My People Go," an interfaith conference scheduled for June 17-19 at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, the historic church of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

SEE: Register for Ending Mass Incarceration - Let My People Go

In a statement, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:

"We thank Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock and Auburn Seminary for bringing together a diverse collection of faith groups to strategize the next steps in the struggle against mass incarceration. 

"Unduly harsh and unfairly applied criminal punishments, among many other problems with our criminal justice system, have contributed to a self-sustaining cycle of poverty, broken families, and crime that impacts our entire society, especially people of color and people without means.

"Faith communities have played a major role in every struggle for justice in our nation, from advocating for civil rights to standing up against unjust wars. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and people of other faiths must once again come together to turn the tide against mass incarceration."

(ATLANTA, GA, 5/20/2019) – The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) today announced that its public petition calling on Governor Brian Kemp to overturn the Georgia Department of Corrections' ban on hijabs has received over 5,400 signatures and counting in just three days.

SEE: Petition - Ask Governor Kemp To Overturn State Agency's Hijab Ban

Last Monday, May 13th, CAIR Georgia filed a discrimination complaint against GDC on behalf of correctional officer Jalanda Calhoun, who has been banned from exercising her constitutional right to wear a hijab in the workplace. 

(ATLANTA, GA, 4/27/2019) -- The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today condemned a new state law designed to to block local governments from removing Georgia's 114 Confederate monuments, some of which were established during the 20th century in response to the Civil Rights Movement.

On April 26th, Governor Kemp signed SB 77 into law while standing next to the Gordon Lee Mansion, a plantation built in the 1840s by slaves. 

SEE: Governor Kemp Signs Bill Protecting Confederate Monuments, Other Memorials

The new law bars local governments from moving certain historic plaques, statues, or flags to museums, and requires relocated monuments to go to a "site of similar prominence." During his remarks at the signing ceremony, Governor Kemp cited the need to "learn from history" as a reason to protect historic monuments.

"If our state legislators visit Germany, they will not see any statues of Adolf Hitler, any license plates with swastikas, or any monuments to the Third Reich," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Executive Director of CAIR-Georgia. "The horrific parts of a nation's history should be mourned in museums and remembered in classrooms, not celebrated on public property."