[h=1]Islamophobia 'tears at the fabric of our nation': President Obama takes veiled jab at Trump in speech during his first visit to an American mosque[/h]
PUBLISHED: 16:34, 3 February 2016 | UPDATED: 00:50, 4 February 2016
President Barack Obama on Wednesday slammed what he called 'inexcusable' anti-Muslim rhetoric in the political sphere - a veiled jibe at Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump and others.
Making his first visit to a mosque while in office, Obama praised American Muslims as upstanding citizens and thanked them for helping their community.
'Recently we've heard inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim-Americans that has no place in our country,' Obama told the members of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, without specifically naming anyone.
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- President Obama paid a visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
- The visit marked the first time Mr Obama has set foot in a U.S. mosque during his presidency; he has visited mosques in other countries
- During his speech, President Obama hit back at what he called 'inexcusable' anti-Muslim rhetoric in politics
- Mr Obama sat down with members of the Mosque to discuss concerns about bias towards Muslim-Americans
PUBLISHED: 16:34, 3 February 2016 | UPDATED: 00:50, 4 February 2016
President Barack Obama on Wednesday slammed what he called 'inexcusable' anti-Muslim rhetoric in the political sphere - a veiled jibe at Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump and others.
Making his first visit to a mosque while in office, Obama praised American Muslims as upstanding citizens and thanked them for helping their community.
'Recently we've heard inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim-Americans that has no place in our country,' Obama told the members of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, without specifically naming anyone.
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US President Barack Obama speaks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, in Windsor Mill, Maryland on February 3, 2016
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In an address at the mosque, Obama pushed back against bias that Muslim Americans say is on the rise following terrorist attacks in Paris and California
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Mr Obama was welcomed to the podium by a round of applause from the many Muslim-Americans in the mosque's audience
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'The first thing I want to say is two words that Muslim-Americans don't hear often enough, and that is thank you,' Obama said at the start of his speech, to applause.
'Thank you for serving your community, thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors, and for helping keep us strong and united as one American family.'
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In this year's Republican presidential campaign, Donald Trump has called for banning Muslims from the U.S. temporarily and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio warned of 'radical Islamic terrorism.'
Muslim-American advocacy groups have warned of a growing number of attacks on mosques and on individuals following attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, by those purporting to act in the name of Islam.
'We have to understand: An attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths,' Obama said. Denouncing a political dynamic that incentivizes attacks against certain religions, he said it fell on all Americans to speak up.
He decried the 'hugely distorted impression' of Muslims given in the media - both in film and television portrayals, and in the news after acts of terror.
'Since 9/11, but more recently since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, you have seen too often people conflating the horrific acts of terrorism with the beliefs of an entire faith,' he said.
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Men and women in the audience held up their phones to record President Obama's historic speech on Wednesday
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President Obama went without shoes for his speech, out of deference to the mosque's traditions
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'Thank you for serving your community, thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors, and for helping keep us strong and united as one American family.'
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In this year's Republican presidential campaign, Donald Trump has called for banning Muslims from the U.S. temporarily and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio warned of 'radical Islamic terrorism.'
Muslim-American advocacy groups have warned of a growing number of attacks on mosques and on individuals following attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, by those purporting to act in the name of Islam.
'We have to understand: An attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths,' Obama said. Denouncing a political dynamic that incentivizes attacks against certain religions, he said it fell on all Americans to speak up.
He decried the 'hugely distorted impression' of Muslims given in the media - both in film and television portrayals, and in the news after acts of terror.
'Since 9/11, but more recently since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, you have seen too often people conflating the horrific acts of terrorism with the beliefs of an entire faith,' he said.
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Men and women in the audience held up their phones to record President Obama's historic speech on Wednesday
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President Obama went without shoes for his speech, out of deference to the mosque's traditions
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'We can't give into profiling entire groups of people,' the president said, taking what appears to be a jab at Donald Trump's suggestion to create a database of all Muslims in the U.S.
While he admitted that there is a very 'radical, tiny, minority' of Muslims perverting Islam's texts to promote violence, Mr Obama hit back at Republicans who have been criticizing him for not recognizing the groups as radical Islamists.
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'I often hear that we need more clarity in this fight. That somehow if I would simply say these are all Islamic terrorisst that we would have already solved the problem by now.
'I agree that we need more clarity. Groups like ISIL are desperate for legitimacy...I refuse to give them that legitimacy.
'We must never give them that legitimacy. They're not defending Islam,' Obama said. 'The vast majority of the people they kill are innocent Muslim men, women and children.'
Obama said bias against any segment of American society tears at the fabric holding the nation together and must be tackled 'head on.'
'We're one American family and when any part of our family starts to feel separate or second class, it tears at the very fabric of our nation,' Mr Obama said.
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A Joakim Noah Chicago Bulls basketball jersey is held up toward President Barack Obama as he greets children from Al-Rahmah school and other guests during his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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The Islamic Society not only operates a mosque and a school, but other groups like the Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts also use it as a meeting place
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A Girl Scout color guard carries the US flag before an address by President Obama on Wednesday
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Girls hold U.S. flags while waiting for Preident Obama after he spoke at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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Schoolchildren wave as the president passes their group at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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Mr Obama greets attendees in an overflow room after speaking at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, in Windsor Mill, Maryland on Wednesday
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At the end of his speech, Mr Obama shared his ideas for promoting better relationships with Muslim-Americans. First off, he said that Americans need to embrace 'our common humanity'.
The second move was to remember the promise out founding fathers made to protect freedom of religion.
Finally, Mr Obama said that we need to reject politicians that 'seek to manipulate prejudice or bias' and 'target people because of their religion'.
For Obama, the visit in his final year in office reflects a willingness to wade into touchy social issues that often eluded him earlier in his presidency.
For years, Obama has fought incorrect claims that he's actually a Muslim and was born in Kenya, beliefs that polls suggest remain prevalent among many Republicans. Obama, a Christian, was born in Hawaii.
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People in the audience listen to remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque in Catonsville, Maryland on February 3
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Women watch as US President Barack Obama speaks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, in Windsor Mill, Maryland on February 3, 2016
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Young Muslim girls where white headscarves, blue dresses and blue sweaters to meet President Obama on Wednesday
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The Muslim congregants and schoolchildren were all smiles when President Obama came out to greet them
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A young Muslim girl wears a white head scarf and holds an American flag as she waits to watch President Obama's speech on Wednesday
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President Barack Obama stops to greets children from Al-Rahmah school and other guests during his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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President Obama shakes hands with a young Muslim congregant at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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The second move was to remember the promise out founding fathers made to protect freedom of religion.
Finally, Mr Obama said that we need to reject politicians that 'seek to manipulate prejudice or bias' and 'target people because of their religion'.
For Obama, the visit in his final year in office reflects a willingness to wade into touchy social issues that often eluded him earlier in his presidency.
For years, Obama has fought incorrect claims that he's actually a Muslim and was born in Kenya, beliefs that polls suggest remain prevalent among many Republicans. Obama, a Christian, was born in Hawaii.
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People in the audience listen to remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque in Catonsville, Maryland on February 3
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Women watch as US President Barack Obama speaks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, in Windsor Mill, Maryland on February 3, 2016
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Young Muslim girls where white headscarves, blue dresses and blue sweaters to meet President Obama on Wednesday
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The Muslim congregants and schoolchildren were all smiles when President Obama came out to greet them
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A young Muslim girl wears a white head scarf and holds an American flag as she waits to watch President Obama's speech on Wednesday
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President Barack Obama stops to greets children from Al-Rahmah school and other guests during his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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President Obama shakes hands with a young Muslim congregant at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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Obama, acknowledging that uncomfortable chapter in his own story, noted that Thomas Jefferson had also been accused of being a Muslim.
'So I was not the first,' Obama said to laughter from a hundred or so Muslims who gathered for his speech. 'No, it's true. Look it up.'
He also drew a parallel between Muslim-Americans' struggle for broad societal acceptance and that of African-Americans, noting that 'there was a time when there were no black people on television.'
With no plans to ever again appear on a ballot, Obama faces less pressure to avoid political controversy, and seemed to relish the possibility that his visit would raise eyebrows among some of his most entrenched critics.
Ahead of his visit, White House officials readily acknowledged the visit could spark controversy but suggested that would help make his point about ignorance and religious bias.
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A Secret Service agent stands watch as President Barack Obama and his entourage enter the grounds of the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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President Barack Obama meets with members of Muslim-American community at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Wednesday on February 3, 2016
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Wednesday marked the president's first visit to a mosque in the U.S. Above, his motorcade arrives at the Islamic Society of Baltimore Wednesday morning
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The Islamic Society's campus includes a mosque, and a school that runs from kindergarten through 12th grade. Above, President Obama meeting with members of the Muslim community at the mosque on Wednesday
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Copies of the Quran are seen on reserved chairs prior to a speech by US President Barack Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore February 3, 2016 in Windsor Mill, Maryland.
The event was also protested by a Muslim women's group, who criticized Obama's decision to visit in an opinion piece for the New York Times.
Asra Q Nomani and Ify Okoye said they were protesting the visit to draw attention to what they believe is institutionalized sexism in the Islamic faith.
At mosques like the Islamic Society of Baltimore, men and women, as well as girls and boys, are kept separate in prayer, and they believe that this is an issue that should be changed.
'As President and Michelle Obama argued decades ago in the context of the U.S. civil rights movement, separate is indeed unequal.
'To Muslim women’s rights activists fighting for equal access to mosques as part of a broader campaign for reform — from equal education for women and girls to freedom from so-called “honor killings” — the president’s visit to a mosque that practices such blatant inequity represents a step backwards,' they wrote.
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Shoes removed by visitors out of reverence sit on a shelf marked 'reserved' prior to remarks by President Obama on Wednesday
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People gather in anticipation of President Obama's speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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A woman with her children watches President Obama's motorcade arrive at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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Local volunteers wait to take their seat before the arrival of President Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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'So I was not the first,' Obama said to laughter from a hundred or so Muslims who gathered for his speech. 'No, it's true. Look it up.'
He also drew a parallel between Muslim-Americans' struggle for broad societal acceptance and that of African-Americans, noting that 'there was a time when there were no black people on television.'
With no plans to ever again appear on a ballot, Obama faces less pressure to avoid political controversy, and seemed to relish the possibility that his visit would raise eyebrows among some of his most entrenched critics.
Ahead of his visit, White House officials readily acknowledged the visit could spark controversy but suggested that would help make his point about ignorance and religious bias.
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A Secret Service agent stands watch as President Barack Obama and his entourage enter the grounds of the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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President Barack Obama meets with members of Muslim-American community at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Wednesday on February 3, 2016
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Wednesday marked the president's first visit to a mosque in the U.S. Above, his motorcade arrives at the Islamic Society of Baltimore Wednesday morning
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The Islamic Society's campus includes a mosque, and a school that runs from kindergarten through 12th grade. Above, President Obama meeting with members of the Muslim community at the mosque on Wednesday
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Copies of the Quran are seen on reserved chairs prior to a speech by US President Barack Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore February 3, 2016 in Windsor Mill, Maryland.
The event was also protested by a Muslim women's group, who criticized Obama's decision to visit in an opinion piece for the New York Times.
Asra Q Nomani and Ify Okoye said they were protesting the visit to draw attention to what they believe is institutionalized sexism in the Islamic faith.
At mosques like the Islamic Society of Baltimore, men and women, as well as girls and boys, are kept separate in prayer, and they believe that this is an issue that should be changed.
'As President and Michelle Obama argued decades ago in the context of the U.S. civil rights movement, separate is indeed unequal.
'To Muslim women’s rights activists fighting for equal access to mosques as part of a broader campaign for reform — from equal education for women and girls to freedom from so-called “honor killings” — the president’s visit to a mosque that practices such blatant inequity represents a step backwards,' they wrote.
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Shoes removed by visitors out of reverence sit on a shelf marked 'reserved' prior to remarks by President Obama on Wednesday
+30
People gather in anticipation of President Obama's speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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A woman with her children watches President Obama's motorcade arrive at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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Local volunteers wait to take their seat before the arrival of President Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday
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Ahead of his speech at the suburban Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama met around a large table with Muslim university chaplains, community activists and public health to discuss religious tolerance and freedom.
Among the participants was Ibtihaj Muhammad, a fencer who has qualified to represent the U.S. at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. The White House said she'll make history as the first United States Olympian to compete in a hijab.
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Nearly half of Americans think at least some U.S. Muslims are anti-American, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.
Two-thirds of Americans said people, not religious teachings, are to blame when violence is committed in the name of faith. However, when respondents were asked which religion they consider troubling, Islam was the most common answer.
'We never thought that when we held our first prayers in the small room nearly a half a century ago that we would be hosting the president,' said Muhammad Jameel, the mosque's president. 'Today is a new starting point. It is also a continuing journey - a journey steeped in American history and tradition.'
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While it was the first time the president visited a mosque in the U.S., My Obama has visited mosques in other countries - such as his June 2009 visit to the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo, Egypt
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Among the participants was Ibtihaj Muhammad, a fencer who has qualified to represent the U.S. at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. The White House said she'll make history as the first United States Olympian to compete in a hijab.
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Nearly half of Americans think at least some U.S. Muslims are anti-American, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.
Two-thirds of Americans said people, not religious teachings, are to blame when violence is committed in the name of faith. However, when respondents were asked which religion they consider troubling, Islam was the most common answer.
'We never thought that when we held our first prayers in the small room nearly a half a century ago that we would be hosting the president,' said Muhammad Jameel, the mosque's president. 'Today is a new starting point. It is also a continuing journey - a journey steeped in American history and tradition.'
+30
While it was the first time the president visited a mosque in the U.S., My Obama has visited mosques in other countries - such as his June 2009 visit to the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo, Egypt
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[h=1]The Smear Campaign Against The Mosque Obama Is Visiting Today[/h] by Jack Jenkins
Feb 3, 2016 11:58 am
CREDIT: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
The Islamic Society of Baltimore, Al-Rahmah School.
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As President Barack Obama prepares to visit a U.S. mosque for the first time in his presidency on Wednesday, right-wing media outlets are scrambling to connect the Muslim house of worship to extremism — even though Muslim organizations argue such accusations are wildly overblown and arguably Islamophobic.
On January 30, the White House announced plans for President Obama to visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a large Muslim community center that offers thousands a place of worship and plays host to a housing complex and schools. White House officials explained that his first visit to a U.S. mosque was meant “to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life,” a move that is likely geared toward combating the sharp uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates and a rash of unsettling and violent incidents enacted against Muslim Americans across the country.
Obama has spoken out against anti-Islam sentiment before, and there is ample precedent for visiting a mosque to help combat Islamophobia: former president George W. Bush also visited a mosque in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, declaring that “Islam is peace.”
Former president George W. Bush also visited a mosque in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, declaring that ‘Islam is peace.’ Yet since last Friday, conservative outlets such as Fox News, the Daily Caller, Breitbart News, and the Washington Times have all rushed to deride Obama’s visit, most accusing the Islamic Society of Baltimore of having “historic” or “deep” ties to extremism or “radical Islam.” Herman Cain told Fox News that the visit amounted to Obama “want[ing] to go kissy kissy with the Muslim Brotherhood,” and Zuhdi Jasser — founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, who is often invited to speak at conservative organizations such as the Heritage Foundation because of his willingness to criticize fellow Muslims and the Obama administration — also decried the visit.
“As a Muslim American I’m just insulted, this is disgraceful that this is one of the mosques — or the mosque — that [Obama has] chosen to visit,” Jasser said during an interview with Fox & Friends.
The accusations are rooted in criticisms surrounding the mosque’s former imam Mohamad Adam El-Sheikh, who served the community from 1983 to 1989 and from 1994 to 2003. Despite the fact that Sheikh has never been accused of propagating extremism, conservatives bemoaned his former membership with Sudan’s chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, even though he cut ties with the group in 1992. They also pointed to his former role as a regional director for the Islamic American Relief Agency, a local subsidiary of an international body accused of some extremist ties, and noted that he took over as imam of a D.C.-area mosque in 2003 where an al-Qaeda once preached fiery sermons — even though Sheikh never delivered those sermons himself.
The Daily Caller also harped on a 2003 quote it said showcased Sheikh “defending” suicide bombings as a form of self-defense.
“If certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwas to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle,” Sheikh told the Washington Post at the time.
Yet many right-wing outlets omitted that fact that the quote was a specific reference to the uptick in violence between Israelis and Palestinians — not Americans — and that Sheikh immediately added that "condemnation of indiscriminate killing of civilians" was widespread in his community.
This effort to connect the Baltimore Islamic center to extremism — by citing an imam that hasn’t worked at the center for a decade — may seem like a stretch, but Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, explained to Fox News that such accusations are a common tactic among anti-Islam activists. She said the campaign is commonplace, and part of what creates the exact kind of Islamophobic rhetoric that president Obama is visiting the center to speak out against.
I know of no other religious community that has this kind of litmus test applied to it. “I know of no other religious community that has this kind of litmus test applied to it,” Berry said.
Indeed, participants in the Islamophobia “industry” — a term often used to describe the vast network of well-founded organizations that propagate anti-Islam positions — are known to repeatedly accuse organizations of funding or being otherwise connected to extremists as a way of deriding Muslims. According the Center for American Progress’ most recent report on Islamophobia, the tactic is often used as a way to justify larger conspiracy theories, such as the idea that “American Muslim organizations serve as the vanguard of an Islamist plot to take over America.”
Yet a new study released on Tuesday by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security found that while the number of Muslim Americans involved in extremist activity has risen in the past years (they’re often recent converts to the faith), the potential danger and influence of such individuals has been wildly exaggerated. What’s more, the intense scrutiny overlaid on Muslim Americans ignores the fact that U.S. citizens are seven times more likely to be killed by a right-wing extremist than a militant claiming to represent Islam, and ultimately just serves to incite hostility against Muslims.
“The demonization of Muslim Americans in some American social and political spheres has created a hostile climate far out of scale with the actual number of Muslim Americans involved in violence,” Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina sociologist Charles Kurzman and author of the Triangle Center report, told the Religion News Service.
Feb 3, 2016 11:58 am
The Islamic Society of Baltimore, Al-Rahmah School.
Share 927
Tweet
As President Barack Obama prepares to visit a U.S. mosque for the first time in his presidency on Wednesday, right-wing media outlets are scrambling to connect the Muslim house of worship to extremism — even though Muslim organizations argue such accusations are wildly overblown and arguably Islamophobic.
On January 30, the White House announced plans for President Obama to visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a large Muslim community center that offers thousands a place of worship and plays host to a housing complex and schools. White House officials explained that his first visit to a U.S. mosque was meant “to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life,” a move that is likely geared toward combating the sharp uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates and a rash of unsettling and violent incidents enacted against Muslim Americans across the country.
Obama has spoken out against anti-Islam sentiment before, and there is ample precedent for visiting a mosque to help combat Islamophobia: former president George W. Bush also visited a mosque in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, declaring that “Islam is peace.”
Former president George W. Bush also visited a mosque in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, declaring that ‘Islam is peace.’ Yet since last Friday, conservative outlets such as Fox News, the Daily Caller, Breitbart News, and the Washington Times have all rushed to deride Obama’s visit, most accusing the Islamic Society of Baltimore of having “historic” or “deep” ties to extremism or “radical Islam.” Herman Cain told Fox News that the visit amounted to Obama “want[ing] to go kissy kissy with the Muslim Brotherhood,” and Zuhdi Jasser — founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, who is often invited to speak at conservative organizations such as the Heritage Foundation because of his willingness to criticize fellow Muslims and the Obama administration — also decried the visit.
“As a Muslim American I’m just insulted, this is disgraceful that this is one of the mosques — or the mosque — that [Obama has] chosen to visit,” Jasser said during an interview with Fox & Friends.
The accusations are rooted in criticisms surrounding the mosque’s former imam Mohamad Adam El-Sheikh, who served the community from 1983 to 1989 and from 1994 to 2003. Despite the fact that Sheikh has never been accused of propagating extremism, conservatives bemoaned his former membership with Sudan’s chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, even though he cut ties with the group in 1992. They also pointed to his former role as a regional director for the Islamic American Relief Agency, a local subsidiary of an international body accused of some extremist ties, and noted that he took over as imam of a D.C.-area mosque in 2003 where an al-Qaeda once preached fiery sermons — even though Sheikh never delivered those sermons himself.
The Daily Caller also harped on a 2003 quote it said showcased Sheikh “defending” suicide bombings as a form of self-defense.
“If certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwas to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle,” Sheikh told the Washington Post at the time.
Yet many right-wing outlets omitted that fact that the quote was a specific reference to the uptick in violence between Israelis and Palestinians — not Americans — and that Sheikh immediately added that "condemnation of indiscriminate killing of civilians" was widespread in his community.
This effort to connect the Baltimore Islamic center to extremism — by citing an imam that hasn’t worked at the center for a decade — may seem like a stretch, but Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, explained to Fox News that such accusations are a common tactic among anti-Islam activists. She said the campaign is commonplace, and part of what creates the exact kind of Islamophobic rhetoric that president Obama is visiting the center to speak out against.
I know of no other religious community that has this kind of litmus test applied to it. “I know of no other religious community that has this kind of litmus test applied to it,” Berry said.
Indeed, participants in the Islamophobia “industry” — a term often used to describe the vast network of well-founded organizations that propagate anti-Islam positions — are known to repeatedly accuse organizations of funding or being otherwise connected to extremists as a way of deriding Muslims. According the Center for American Progress’ most recent report on Islamophobia, the tactic is often used as a way to justify larger conspiracy theories, such as the idea that “American Muslim organizations serve as the vanguard of an Islamist plot to take over America.”
Yet a new study released on Tuesday by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security found that while the number of Muslim Americans involved in extremist activity has risen in the past years (they’re often recent converts to the faith), the potential danger and influence of such individuals has been wildly exaggerated. What’s more, the intense scrutiny overlaid on Muslim Americans ignores the fact that U.S. citizens are seven times more likely to be killed by a right-wing extremist than a militant claiming to represent Islam, and ultimately just serves to incite hostility against Muslims.
“The demonization of Muslim Americans in some American social and political spheres has created a hostile climate far out of scale with the actual number of Muslim Americans involved in violence,” Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina sociologist Charles Kurzman and author of the Triangle Center report, told the Religion News Service.
Blacks, Jews, Irish, Chinese, Hispanics, Christians, whites, Catholics, aethiests, Italians, Germans, Mormons, etc - no matter how u want to break people down - they all have a place in the history of this country - guess who has no history whatsoever in this country? Muslims - we do not need to appease them
