Although the purpose of these Muslim organizations is to work hard to protect the civil liberties of Muslims in the United States, their status is also tenuous. The state has questioned Muslim organizations, such as CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), about their associations with terrorism in an attempt to discredit their efforts (Shane 2011). The Snowden leak also revealed that Nihad Awad, the executive director for CAIR, was under intense surveillance by the U.S. government. If the civil rights organizations that are supposed to provide Muslims with civil liberties protections are being surveilled, it is no wonder that Muslim American men feel they are unable to speak out about the injustices they experience. Because they work to avoid any associations with terrorism, they may be deterred from participating in efforts to stop their surveillance if there is a threat the organization or group could be targeted for even more surveillance or marked as a terrorist organization.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 453