The 9/11 attacks saw public sentiment turn against American Muslims, with many people thinking they all must be terrorists. This compounded the problems of Black Muslims, who already suffer from racial discrimination. Tennessee state trooper De’Ossie Dingus was a victim of a blatant case of religious discrimination, but he fought back and recently won his case in court.
The Knoxville News reports a federal judge sided with Dingus and ruled the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security was guilty of discrimination for firing Dingus.
“U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell found the agency violated the rights of De’Ossie Dingus by firing him in 2010 after a military liaison dubbed the 10-year Tennessee Highway Patrol veteran a budding terrorist without any proof,” reported The Knoxville News.
Dingus was fired after a disagreement with military liaison Maj. Kevin Taylor, who branded him a terrorist after he had complained about a video showing the radicalization of children. The video was shown during a class on how to spot weapons of mass destruction.
Taylor labeled Dingus as “disruptive” and “confrontational.” However, Dingus was backed up by 35 other officers.
“An internal investigation showed none of Dingus’ co-workers shared Taylor’s view. Most said they’d never once heard Dingus mention his faith,” reported The Knoxville News.
In spite of the support of his fellow officers, senior staff in the Tennessee Department of Safety (TDOS) fired Dingus, largely based on Taylor’s recommendation.
“The judge ruled safety department officials were ‘all too eager to accept Maj. Taylor’s belief that because Mr. Dingus was a Muslim, he was dangerous,” The Knoxville News reported.
Judge Campbell also pointed out this was not the first incident of religious discrimination Dingus has faced in the Tennessee Department of Safety.
“From the beginning of Mr. Dingus’ employment, many in the [Department of Safety] did not accept Mr. Dingus because of his religion,” Campbell wrote. “For example, Mr. Dingus’ roommates at the initial training program said that they didn’t want to bunk with him because he was a Muslim; Sgt. [James] Bridgeman told Mr. Dingus that maybe if he joined the prayer group, other troopers would like him; the TDOS isolated Mr. Dingus at the west Knoxville weight scales; and the TDOS’ opposition to accepting [an administrative law judge’s] decision that Mr. Dingus was fit for duty. All this showed the court that the TDOS wanted to get rid of Mr. Dingus because of his religion.”
However, even though Campbell ruled in Dingus’ favor, she didn’t award the $300,000 in damages requested by his lawyers. Dingus’ legal team has asked the judge to order the Tennessee Department of Safety to pay their $150,000 legal bill and also award punitive damages.
Dingus is one of many American Muslims who have complained about religious discrimination. An Economist/YouGov poll released in February found Muslims face even more discrimination than Black people.
“A full 73 percent of Americans believe Muslims face a great deal or a fair amount of discrimination. That total outstrips both African-Americans, whom 63 percent of Americans see as victims of bias, and Mexican-Americans, who are viewed as targets of discrimination by 60 percent,” reported The Huffington Post.
Several Muslim women have filed successful lawsuits against employers who refused to allow them to wear the hijab, a religious headscarf, at work. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Samantha Elauf who had been denied a job at an Oklahoma Abercrombie & Fitch store because her hijab didn’t fit their “look policy.” In 2010, 200 Somalis filed a lawsuit against meatpacking plants in Colorado and Nebraska, complaining they were taunted with religious slurs and had blood and meat thrown at them.
Although the U.S. Constitution guarantees religious freedom, conservative commentators and politicians regularly express anti-Muslim sentiments. President Barack Obama was hounded by rumors he was a “secret Muslim,” even though he is a professed Christian and Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, was accused of “working for our enemies,” by talk show host Glenn Beck.
FOX News personalities regularly spout anti-Muslim rhetoric. After FOX commentator Bill O’Reilly said, “Muslims attacked us on 9/11,” on The View, Fox and Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade backed him up by saying, “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.”
