At the beginning of this month, I received an e-mail about a lecture that was taking place on October 14th at the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center, located in Pembroke Pines, Florida. The event was being sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Keynote Speaker was listed as Keith Ellison, a candidate for United States Congress from Minnesota and a man that has raised thousands of dollars through CAIR. Our group, Americans Against Hate, planned to be there and welcome him in protest. All was fine, until we attempted to sit in on the event.

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We asked the police officers if it was alright to go inside to videotape. They said it was okay, as long as we didn't disrupt anything. Two of us went in. As we reached the entrance to the affair, we were stopped by two people. "This is a private event," one said, as he put up his hand to stop us. We said we received permission from the officers. He repeated his statement a couple more times. Areeb Naseer rushed out to speak with the officers. Altaf Ali looked nervous and confused. We took CAIR totally by surprise.

In the end, the officers said, since it was a "private" event we had to abide by what they were telling us. My colleague stated that it was a public place - the center was owned by the city - and we should be able to pass through. However, we didn't press much further and soon left. With all of the preceding questions, a new question arose: Why did they not want us inside? Keith Ellison is running for public office. Why was this a "private meeting"? What was being said inside that made it so private?