The ACLU of Tennessee says it ended up on a map of potential terrorist
threats after it sent a letter to school superintendents asking them to
be "inclusive" in their holiday celebrations.
The civil rights
group says it found itself on the Tennessee Fusion Center's map
identified under the category “terrorism events and other suspicious
activity," with the explanation "ACLU cautions Tennessee schools about
observing 'one religious holiday.'"
"It is deeply disturbing
that Tennessee’s fusion center is tracking First Amendment-protected
activity," Hedy Weinberg, executive director of ACLU-Tennessee, said in
a statement. "Equating a group’s attempts to protect religious freedom
in Tennessee with suspicious activity related to terrorism is
outrageous. Religious freedom is a founding principle in our
Constitution—not fodder for overzealous law enforcement."
State
fusion centers were set up after 9/11 to help states collect and share
information on potential security threats. The ACLU has previously
warned of "the potential dangers of fusion centers, including their
ambiguous lines of authority, excessive secrecy, troubling
private-sector and military roles and a bent toward collection of
information about innocent activities and data mining."
A fusion
center spokesman told the Nashville City Paper that it was a mistake to
have labeled the ACLU's letter as a "terrorist" event and said the tag
on the map should have been labeled "general information."
MORE
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/aclu-terror-map-letter-schools/
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