美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why a New Jersey mayor was uninvited from a White House celebration

Why a New Jersey¹ mayor was uninvited from a White House celebration

Transcript²

The White House organized a belated celebration for Eid al-Fitar earlier this week and invited hundreds of prominent American Muslims. Then, it uninvited one of them: Mohamed Khairullah, the mayor of Prospect³ Park, N.J. He's the longest serving Muslim mayor in this country, and he was given no explanation as to why.

Khairullah told NPR's Leila Fadel on Morning Edition that he contacted the Council on American Islamic Relations shortly after he was disinvited to the event. The council informed him that he was on a "secret list," which was leaked earlier this year.

"I was added to the list in 2019, which put things together in my mind because all my traveling difficulties started in 2019," Khairullah said. "So it's at this point, for some reason, I am on a secret list that the government is denying exists and it's caused me and my family trouble."

At a White House press briefing this week, when asked about Khairullah being uninvited from the event, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly deferred⁴ to the U.S. Secret Service.

For its part, the Secret Service put out a statement from spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi: "While we regret any inconvenience this may have caused, the mayor was not allowed to enter the White House complex this evening. Unfortunately we are not able to comment further on the specific protective means and methods used to conduct our security operations at the White House."

The White House is also noting its ongoing⁵ efforts to counter Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination. On Tuesday administration officials held a listening session with Muslim community leaders, including the government affairs director of CAIR.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Leila Fadel: Now, this secret list you're referring to is a watch list, and the 2019 leaked list you're talking about was a hack⁶. And on that list, the majority of those names are Arab Muslim sounding names based on what was on those hacked⁷ list. Do you think this is a situation of profiling?

Mohamed Khairullah: The fact that the list is mostly Arabs and Muslims, the fact that we have no way to address why we are on the list is definitely profiling and a lack of due process. And that's why a federal judge deemed that list to be unlawful. However, our federal government continues to use that list despite the fact that it was deemed unlawful.

Leila Fadel: There will be people listening to you who say these types of lists and this type of secrecy⁸ is necessary for the national security of this country, even if it is uncomfortable for you. What do you say to those people?

Mohamed Khairullah: As an elected official, I've been mayor for 17 years. I've been very close to former presidents, elected officials. This is not a very smart list. It's not an intelligent list. It's a dragnet that's not very effective. It uses racial profiling, ethnic⁹ profiling. So if the attempt is to prevent me from meeting people, I've met these people plenty of times when the list was not used.

So I think we need a more intelligent way of protecting the nation rather than somebody writing a report about me that I can't know about, or and I'm assuming that's how I got on. And I can't defend myself. I can't defend my name. I think inconvenience has to be justified¹⁰, not just throw in a dragnet that's going to inconvenience 1.5 million people.

On the White House's response

They have been silent. When asked at the press conference, they referred the matter back to the Secret Service. However, this is a list that was created back in 2003 by President George W. Bush. So it is something that the executive branch can do something about. And we hope that the Biden administration can finally disband this list and correct the course of how things are going and this racial profiling.

On how being on the watch list has affected¹¹ him

So the first time I started experiencing difficulties was when we were going on a trip to Istanbul, which we didn't think [much] about. But when we returned from Istanbul, at JFK, the agents were there at the door and they still said, "Oh, you are being randomly¹² selected."

So we went with them and I had to end the conversation, because the agent flat out asked me, "Did you meet any terrorists?" As if the answer was going to be yes or no, to which I said, "Listen, at this point I'm ending this conversation, I need a lawyer." And obviously because of that, he said, "Do you understand? I'm going to take your phone. We're going to strip search you." So, I'm like, do what you got to do, but this conversation is over.

On what it's like to be selected for a search at US airports

It's humiliating, to say the least. I mean, I could tell you when I was coming back from Canada in 2021, I was detained and in a glass room and my toddler daughter would stand at the door asking me why she can't be with me. And I'm being held there for about two or three hours. There's no explanation. And how do you explain to a child that your government is detaining your dad for reasons that he can't explain, that the government won't explain? It's just baffling. It's in a country where we have institutions and we have a great constitution that protects the liberties of people to be targeted because of my name, ethnicity and religion is just unbelievable. And that's basically what my crimes are.

To be 100% randomly selected every single time I go to the airport is just not a coincidence.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

7 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

8 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

10 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句