This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/572
Muslims sue Denny's for $28 million for discrimination - company denies charges -CAIR gets involved
April 29, 2005
A company accused of discriminating against Muslim students on a Duval County school bus in October 2003 admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to establish new antidiscrimination training policies and make monetary payments of about $35,000, according to settlement documents.
Allegations that an employee of First Student Inc., who was driving a Duval County school bus, forcibly removed the Muslim students from a bus and made derogatory statements on Oct. 29, 2003, were investigated by Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist's Office. According to the January 2005 settlement, First Student Inc. denies that the driver acted in a discriminatory manner and was justified in refusing to drive the students home because the Muslim students posed a threat of imminent danger to the driver.
According to the settlement contract, First Student agreed to have Florida employees do training such as attending a three- to four-hour educational program concerning discrimination at least once a year for five years. Also a section of the Florida Educational Equity Act shall be posted on all First Student school buses operating in Florida.
Monetary payments included a $10,000 donation to a Communities in Schools Program that aims to keep children in school, according to the contract. Another $26,885 payment was made to Crist's office for attorney's fees and costs.
http://noble.cbnoble.com/index.php?m=2003&w=44
This account from the Noble Pundit website contains the real story and has links to news articles:
Interesting story, this is. A bus driver in Jacksonville removes several Muslim kids from the bus. The kids end up walking home and are refused transport two days later (the first event happened on a Wednesday, the second on a Friday). Those are the facts that are agreed on. It gets interesting when you start reading differing accounts of the story.
This isn't just a simple local story. With there being Muslims involved, we of course, ended up with CAIR involved and then the ACLU. This leads to a situation in which the truth becomes relative and subjective, rather then strictly factual. But then, to make it worse Al Jazeera got involved.
Al Jazeera is making the claim that the kids were thrown off the bus eight miles from home and forced to walk, along with being denied transport on Friday, simply because they were Muslim. They merely brush past the allegations of disciplinary problems, as though they never happened, and instead focus on this being a racist act by the evil, bigoted people of Jacksonville.
However, the racist bigots at the Florida Times-Union seem to have a bit of a different story.
They agree that the kids were removed from the bus. But according to the school officials (never quoted in the Al Jazeera article) they were dropped at the school and chose to walk, even after being given a chance to call their parents. School administrators and a school police officer trying to get them back to the school. On Friday, the school system indicates that they were twice offered transportation and twice refused to get on the bus.
Two very different stories, huh?
Something doesn't sound right to me. I'm guessing that the story of the school officials is probably the more accurate. I'll bet that there were disciplinary problems on the bus. I'll bet that the kids were brought back to school and then chose to walk home on their own accord. And I'll almost guarantee that the bus driver was motivated by anything but racism.
What lessons are the kids involved here learning? Simple. They're being taught that the best way to deal with an uncomfortable situation is to scream racism. What they should be learning is how to behave according to normal rules of conduct. What they should be learning is how to accept the consequences of poor decisions without reaching for the crutch of victimhood.
It's too bad that these parents, CAIR, and the ACLU are more concerned with pandering to the Al Jazeera reporters than they are with teaching their kids how to act responsibly.
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MIM: Although CAIR was not mentioned in the initial article which came out about the lawsuit, they got on the news which was broadcast a piece on this apparent non event. A careful reading of the article shows that CAIR's MO is all over this 'sheikdown' which the men's lawyer, has ludicriously proclaimed as "the worst case of anti Muslim discrimination I have ever seen".
Denny's investigation shows that "there is no evidence" to support the Muslims claims. The person who was alleged to have made remarks to them has 'disappeared'. The police who were supposedly present and asked by the Muslims to intervene are 'being sought'. Most revealing the Florida Commission on Human Rights which was nowhere near the scene, yet they proclaimed that "there was reasonable cause" to believe the men were discriminated against. Which begs two questions:
Why 8 professional Muslim men decided to eat in a Denny's in the first place, and how much the Florida Human Rights Commission is asking for their part in CAIR's sheikdown .
Denny's customers sue claiming discrimination
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11507589.htm
Seven men of Middle Eastern descent who say they were kicked out of a South Florida Denny's and compared to terrorist Osama bin Laden have filed a discrimination lawsuit against the diner seeking $28 million in damages.
"This was a terrible act against Arab Americans," said Alan C. Kauffman, one of the attorneys for the group, which includes a doctor, a real estate agent, insurance broker and a restaurant owner.
The seven men are of Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian descent. They are U.S. citizens and live in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Their suit against the Denny's franchise at 401 SE First Ave., Florida City, has been filed in Miami-Dade County; no date for a jury trial has been set. The diner is run by Restaurant Collection, Inc. of Miami-Dade.
Filing suit are: Mohammad Natour, of Plantation; Ehab Mohammed, of Boca Raton; Ehab Albaradi, of Hallandale; Nabil Arafat, of Pompano Beach; Usama El-A-Baidy, of Hallandale; Esam Hessein, of Hollywood and Usama Mohamed, of Dania. Each man seeks $4 million in damages.
The alleged incident stems from the group's early morning visit Jan. 11, 2004. "They were seated by the hostess, given menus, and their drink order was taken and served," Kauffman said.
According to the 10-page complaint, the men waited more than an hour for their food. Frustrated, one of the men -- Ehab Albaradi -- approached shift manager Eduardo Ascano and inquired about the group's order.
Ascano allegedly said: "Bin Laden is the manager of the kitchen" and "Bin Laden is in charge," referring to the Arab terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Albaradi and a second plaintiff, El-A-Baidy, decided to speak to Ascano again about their order.
Angered, Ascano told the short order cooks in the kitchen to cancel the group's order, the suit claims.
El-A-Baidy then asked Ascano why he had used the name bin Laden.
"We don't serve bin Ladens here! You guys, out!" Ascano allegedly said.
Also in the diner at that hour: a group of police officers from an unidentified agency.
But when one of the plaintiffs requested a police report of the incident, a female officer refused and pulled out her handcuffs.
She then ordered the men to "Get out, get out!" the men claim.
The men paid for their drinks and left.
Kauffman said he is trying to identify the officers.
For now, the lawsuit names Restaurant Collection Inc. and Ascano.
Ascano is no longer with the company, Kauffman said. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
In a statement, Restaurant Collection said that the 'allegations of discrimination were immediately and thoroughly investigated by an independent, outside agency that found no evidence whatsoever to support the guests' claims."
In January, the Florida Commission on Human Relations said there was "reasonable cause"' to believe the group had been discriminated against.
Herald news partner CBS4 and researcher
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/572