In a precedent setting meeting at the White House on Monday, January 12, 1998, President Clinton included an American Muslim woman in an advisory meeting regarding the administration's civil rights initiative. Asifa Quraishi, Vice President of KARAMAH: MUSLIM WOMEN LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, was among sixteen prominent minority leaders who met with the President to offer insights and advice into race relations in the United States. "What I find especially significant," said Quraishi, "is that the invitation was not solicited by the Muslim community; the White House called on their own initiative."

Ms. Quraishi was asked to offer her perspectives as a member of the American Muslim community, and insights from her work with KARAMAH. Adding to comments from others about affirmative action, bilingual education, inner city violence, police profiling, and immigration, Quraishi proposed that the protection of American Muslims' civil rights would be significantly improved if the American public learned to separate international political events from their treatment of individual American citizens. "I pointed out that whenever there is an incident in the Middle East, Muslims are unjustly harassed here in America," she said. Remembering the terrible injustices to Japanese Americans and harassment of American citizens during the communist scare era, Ms. Quraishi emphasized that Muslims today feel threatened by similar stereotypes and suspicion.

America needs to recognize that American Muslims are American citizens who have been part of the American fabric for a very long time. Ms. Quraishi also pointed out that the American Muslim community is an interesting microcosm of American society itself, since the Muslim community here is so racially and socially diverse: the African American community has been a part of the Muslim community here since the beginning, and we have immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as well the second hand third generations of these immigrants. The Muslims of America today are addressing the same challenges of diversity as the American public at large."Ms. Quraishi also acknowledged that the Clinton administration has already made significant contributions in this regard, such as the President's warnings against a rush to judgement after the Oklahoma City bombing, the first-ever Eid celebration at the White House and President Clinton's condemnation of the recent vandalism of the Ramadan decoration on the circle in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Quraishi reported that the President responded warmly to her remarks, thanked her for her suggestions and echoed the need to separate Islam as a religion from the actions of particular individuals. He also mentioned the importance of this effort since the Muslim community in America is growing so much. "I think he was genuinely interested in everyone's remarks: he took notes, responded actively and specifically thanked me for being there,"Quraishi said. "I was very honored to be a part of this meeting."