Keith Ellison, the first American Muslim elected to Congress, has become the foremost political leader in that community. Ellison leveraged that status Tuesday to call for an end to what he described as anti-Muslim speech. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
At a news conference to discuss Islamophobia in the U.S., [Ellison] said the ability to promote bigotry and discrimination against Muslims with impunity will not end until Muslims “build up political cachet.”
Ellison spoke alongside Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, the second Muslim elected to Congress.
The two addressed a proposal by presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States as a response to terrorist attacks carried out by radical Muslims in America and other parts of the world. Both agreed that the only real solution to what they consider a call to religious discrimination rests at the polls.
“Hold Trump to account by voting,” Ellison said.
Ellison’s exhortation could prove just as likely to motivate Trump supporters as Trump critics. The prospect of a growing Muslim population with increasing “political cachet” will only bolster desires for an end to Muslim immigration and the erection of a border wall.
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