Countering extremismNYC mayor urged not to participate in federal counter-extremism program
More than twenty civil rights, legal, and interfaith organizations have urged Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York and his top aides not to take part in a White House initiative which aims to counter violent extremism in the United States. “The premise of CVE [Countering Violent Extremism] programming is that the adoption or expression of extreme or ‘radical’ ideas [places] individuals on the path toward violence, and that there are observable ‘indicators’ to identify those ‘vulnerable’ to radicalization, or ‘at risk’ of being recruited by terrorist groups,” the 21 September letter to the mayor argued. “This is simply not true. Despite years of federally funded efforts, researchers have not developed reliable criteria that can be used to predict who will commit a terrorist act.”
More than twenty civil rights, legal, and interfaith organizations have urged Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York aides, urging them not to take part in a White House initiative which aims to counter violent extremism in the United States.
POLITICO New York has obtained a copy of the letter, sent to mayor and his top aides last week, which claims that the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program will stigmatize Muslim communities already subject to government surveillance and the public’s perceptions about terrorism.
John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, told POLITICO New York there has been some “gnashing of teeth” over programs like CVE, and that even among allies in the advocacy world, there is not always consensus on the right strategy to follow.
Here is the letter in full:
September 21, 2015
The Honorable BillDeBlasio Mayor, CityHall
New York, NY10007
Dear Mayor DeBlasio,
The undersigned human rights, civil liberties, and community-based organizations write to express our grave concerns about attempts to institute programs under the banner of “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE) in New York City. The Department of Justice has established CVE programs in the pilot cities of Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, where they have proven to be divisive and counterproductive.(1)We understand thatother cities are being considered for similar initiatives and that New York has been invited to join the nascent Strong Cities network. We proactively write to engage your Administration on the issue of whether New York City should participate in CVE initiatives.
The federal initiative(2)has been given the seemingly positive name of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). But, based on publicly available information, CVE programs impose serious adverse consequences, including stigmatizing Muslim communities as suspicious and in need of special monitoring, transforming the relationship between Muslims and schools and social service providers into security-based engagements, and bringing law enforcement scrutiny to bear on First Amendment-protected speech andreligious observance. Moreover, such programs have not been demonstrated to advance their goal of reducingrisks.
