Hundreds of Muslim American leaders are urging the President-elect Donald Trump to reject his attitudes toward Muslims and fight for the rights of all Americans. On Monday, they published a letter, which comes as a result of announced Muslim registry and violation of their Constitutional rights. Muslim American leaders call on Trump and his administration to protect their First amendment rights.
“Like other Americans, we love our country and are committed to preserving religious freedom, equal opportunity and equal protection under the law for all,” the letter states. “As our President-Elect, one of your duties is to ensure our collective safety and security. This includes protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans to freely practice their faith, without fear, intimidation or reprisal.”
Group of national Muslim American leaders including Engy Abdelkader, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Azhar Azeez, president of the Islamic Society of North America, have written a letter and distributed it to Muslim leaders and organizations around the country at the end of November. The letter had garnered over 300 signatures until Monday.
The election of Donald Trump left many marginalized communities fearful of what a Trump presidency would mean for their civil rights, particularly for Muslim rights. Donald Trump said that he thinks "Islam hates us," drawing little distinction between the religion and radical Islamic terrorism, during his campaign. Claims like this one have stirred up fears and set a question of what kind of hate and aggression it might unleash. Their fears have been justified by a recorded 867 reported hate incidents in the 10 days following the election.
Muslim communities have been directly targeted by identical letters praising Trump and calling Muslims “vile and filthy people.” They referred to Muslims as “children of Satan” and called Trump the “new sheriff in town” who will “cleanse America and make it shine again” by eradicating the country’s Muslim population. “He’s going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews,” the letters state. Even prior to the election, the number of reported assaults against Muslim Americans has reached a record high since right after Sept. 11.
“It behooves President-elect Trump to recognize the impact of his words, let alone potential policies that single out Americans on account of their religion, race or ethnicity,” Abdelkader said, and added that the letter’s signatories will hold Trump accountable in the coming months through grassroots organizing and advocacy.
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