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Muslim Taxi Drivers in MN

Islamic Community in Minnesota Faces Growing Pains

May 18, 2007

Author: FRED DE SAM LAZARO

Source: News Hour, PBS

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/jan-june07/clash_05-18.html

Almost 50,000 of the growing immigrant population in Minneapolis and St. Paul are Somali Muslims, who have been arriving steadily since civil war wracked their home country in 1991. The NewsHour presents a report on the Muslim community's efforts at integration. FRED DE SAM LAZARO, NewsHour Correspondent:...

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Minnesota's Muslim Cab Drivers Face Crackdown

April 16, 2007

Source: The Washington Post

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR2007041601563.html

Muslim cab drivers at Minnesota's biggest airport will face new penalties including a two-year revocation of their taxi permits if they refuse to give rides to travelers carrying liquor or accompanied by dogs, the board overseeing operations ruled Monday.

The...

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Muslim Organization Revives Minnesota Branch

March 15, 2007

Author: Richard Meryhew and Pamela Miller

Source: Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1058473.html

A controversial national Islamic civil liberties organization has revived its Minnesota chapter after a series of highly publicized incidents involving Muslim taxi drivers, store clerks and airline passengers.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has 32 chapters in the United States and Canada, will open a St....

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"Muslim Dispute: Religious Intolerance?" a Commentary by Leonard Pitts Jr.

January 21, 2007

Author: LEONARD PITTS JR.

Source: Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/4487008.html

OK, let's say you fly into Minneapolis-St. Paul. Let's say you're carrying alcohol - rum from the Caribbean, a merlot you found in Napa Valley. Let's say you try to hail a cab while carrying said alcohol.

Good luck. You're going to need it.

Three quarters of the drivers serving the airport are Muslims, most from Somalia,...

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Service not Religion; to Minnesota Taxi Passengers

November 30, 2006

Author: Mike Ghouse

Source: The American Muslim

http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/service_not_religion_to_minnesota_taxi_passengers/0012111

The passengers traveling to St.Paul/Minneapolis International airport are in for a rude awakening, when they haul for a cab.

On September 28th, John Reinan of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota’s Startribune reported...

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Muslim Cab Drivers Object to Driving PassengersWith Alcohol

December 2, 2000

Source: Star Tribune

On December 2, 2000, the Star Tribune reported that "Muslim cabdrivers who object to transporting alcohol for religious reasons complain they are being forced to choose between their faith and their livelihoods at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Under airport policy, drivers must accept passengers who are carrying liquor--often bought at airport duty-free shops in the United States and abroad--or wait as long as four hours for another fare. Officials of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) said that drivers can...

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