Shahid Buttar is a civil rights lawyer, musician, columnist, and grassroots organizer. He is the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee in Washington, D.C. He served as former counsel of a national program combating racial and religious profiling at Muslim Advocates.
The American Civic Leadership Institute builds the capacity of Muslim nonprofit leaders and their organizations to participate in civic engagement. Each year, AMCLI selects and trains 20 fellows from across the United States. AMCLI is housed at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The institute works in partnership with Georgetown Universitys Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
The remarks were delivered at the March 2009 AMCLI Commencement Ceremony.
