I/II.
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/wife-of-indian-shot-dead-by-american-asks-do-we-belong-here-4542650/

Wife of Indian shot dead by American asks ‘do we belong here’
Dumala said she was concerned about shootings incidents in America and
had doubted whether they should stay in the country

By: PTI | Houston | Published:February 25, 2017 8:26 am

[Photo: Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the Indian who was killed in the
shooting at the bar in Kansas]

The wife of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in
an apparent hate crime by a Navy veteran at a bar in Olathe city, has
said that she had her doubts about staying in the US but was assured
by her husband that “good things happen in America”. Speaking at a
news conference organised by GPS-maker Garmin where Srinivas worked,
Sunayana Dumala said reports of bias in the US make minorities afraid
as she questioned “do we belong here”. She said she now wonders what
will the US government do to stop hate crimes against minorities.

Dumala said she was concerned about shootings incidents in America and
had doubted whether they should stay in the country, but her husband
said that assured her saying that “good things happen in America.”
Consul General of India in Houston Anupam Ray is supervising the
current situation and providing all possible help for the grieving
family and the community in Olathe area of Kansas. “Immediately when
the incident occurred, Consulate rushed Deputy Consul RD Joshi and
Vice Consul H Singh to Kansas to be with the family of Srinivas at
this trying moment,” Ray told PTI.

[Video: Indian Killed In Kansas Bar Shooting]

Ever since, they have been with the family of Srinivas and have
assured Sunayna of all possible support and help at this grieving
moment, he said. Consul Joshi also met the shocked and frightened
Indian community in Olathe and Alok Madasani injured in the shooting
on Wednesday night. Madasani is now stable and has been discharged
from the hospital.

A third person, an American man identified as Ian Grillot, 24, who
tried to intervene also received injuries in the firing at Austins Bar
and Grill in Olathe in Kansas City in the US state of Missouri. A
University of Kansas Hospital spokeswoman said he is in fair
condition. The incident evoked outrage in the US and India with
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj expressing shock over the
incident. “I am shocked at the shooting incident in Kansas in which
Srinivas Kuchibhotla has been killed. My heartfelt condolences to
bereaved family,” she said in a tweet yesterday.

***The shooter, Adam Purinton, reportedly got into an argument with
the victims in the terms of racism, and shouted “get out of my
country”, “terrorist” before shooting them. He reportedly provoked
them into an argument asking about their presence and work in his
country, and how they are better than him. According to police,
Purinton left the bar after the argument and then returned with a gun
and shot the three men.*** [Emphasis added.]

He was arrested on Thursday, five hours after the incident and charged
with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and two counts of
attempted premeditated first-degree murder in Johnson County, Kansas,
District Attorney Stephen Howe told reporters. Howe, however, declined
to elaborate on the motive of the incident, although local police said
they were working with the FBI to investigate the case. The FBI was
looking at whether it was a hate crime.

An FBI spokesperson said agents and police canvassed the area on
Thursday and the investigation continued yesterday. Some eye-witnesses
have said the attack was racially motivated. One bystander told the
Kansas City Star that the gunman shouted “get out of my country”
before shooting the Indian victims. Grillot said in a recorded
interview on Thursday that the bullet went through his right hand and
into his chest, just missing a major artery but fracturing a vertebra
in his neck

***The shooting incident comes at a time when hate crimes and acts of
bigotry have risen notably in America after President Donald Trump
came to power. According to Garmin, Kuchibhotla and Madasani worked in
the company’s aviation systems. “Unfortunately, two associates on our
Aviation Systems Engineering team, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok
Madasani, were shot. We are devastated to inform you that Srinivas
passed away and Alok is currently recovering in the hospital,” Garmin
said.*** [Emphasis added.]

Kuchibhotla and Madasani hailed from Hyderabad and Warangal
respectively. Kuchibhotla posted on LinkedIn in 2014 that he managed
helicopter programmes. He had a master’s degree in electrical and
electronics engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. He
earned his bachelor’s degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University in Hyderabad. A 2014 post on LinkedIn said Madasani was an
aviation programme coordinator manager at Garmin.

II.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-muhammad-ali-son-detained-20170225-story.html

Muhammad Ali’s son may sue after being detained at Florida airport and
questioned about his religion

[Photo: Muhammad Ali, right, in a 1973 bout with Ken Norton. Ali's
son, Muhammad Ali Jr., was detained and questioned at Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7. (Associated
Press)]

By Jenny Jarvie

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

Muhammad Ali Jr., son of the late boxing legend and civil rights hero,
is considering legal action after he was detained this month at a
Florida airport and questioned about his religion, the family’s lawyer
said Saturday.

According to Chris Mancini, border agents pulled the 44-year-old Ali
aside for secondary questioning at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport on Feb 7. as he and his mother, Khalilah
Camacho-Ali, returned from a trip to Jamaica.

Agents released Camacho-Ali, Muhammad Ali’s second wife, when she
presented a photo of herself with her ex-husband. Yet they questioned
her son  for an hour and 45 minutes, Mancini said, repeatedly asking
him: “Where were you born?” "Are you a Muslim?" and "Where did you get
your name from?"

Ali, a Muslim, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Philadelphia in 1972.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that the agency could not
discuss individual travelers due to the restrictions of the Privacy
Act. “All international travelers arriving in the U.S. are subject to
CBP inspection,” the agency added in an email.

Mancini, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said the questions struck
him as "profile questions," potentially violating the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act, as well as the 1st and 14th Amendments of the
Constitution.

***Ali’s experience, he said, appeared to be a direct result of
President Trump’s efforts to subject Muslims entering the country to
“extreme vetting.”*** [Emphasis added.]

***“We do not discriminate on the basis of religion — that’s been one
of the basic, foundational principles of life in America since this
country was founded — and then along comes Donald Trump, who pledges
in his campaign that he’s going to ban all Muslims,” Mancini said.***
[Emphasis added.]

During his first week in office, Trump signed an executive order that
temporarily suspended travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations
to the U.S. That order has been blocked by federal courts, but
administration officials say they will soon introduce new travel
restrictions targeting countries with links to terrorism.

Mancini, who is trying to collect information about similar cases for
a possible federal lawsuit, said Ali’s experience suggested federal
agents were using their discretion to broaden the scope of border
inspections.

“The White House can’t get this done by executive order,” Mancini
said. “I believe we’re starting to see that they have a program in
place to do this through executive action, through the agencies he
controls — Homeland Security, immigration, customs. Muhammad Ali Jr.,
he just stepped into that.”

Ali is not the first traveler to complain about treatment by
immigration officials in Fort Lauderdale under the Trump
administration.

Earlier this month, Stacy-Marie Ishmael, a reporter who has worked for
Buzzfeed and the Financial Times, reported on Twitter that her
Trinidadian husband, a U.S. permanent resident, was detained for more
than three hours at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Border agents quizzed
him about his ethnicity and “how he got his name,” Ishmael said.

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Peace Is Doable

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