President Barack Obama will make his first visit to a USA mosque on Wednesday, and it comes at a time when Muslim-Americans say they’re confronting unprecedented levels of bias.
Advertisement
President Obama is delivering remarks at a mosque in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon, in the first visit to an American mosque he’s made during his presidency.
Speaking to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama said many Americans had a “hugely distorted impression” of Muslim-Americans that was resulting in significant harm – both physically and mentally – to the community of almost 3 million people in the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was still his party’s frontrunner after he called for a “total and complete shutdown of all Muslims entering the US” in December. “Thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors and for helping to keep us strong and united as one American family”.
“Attack on one faith is attack on all faiths and recently certain statement directly targeted the Muslim community residing in United States”, Obama went on to say.
Obama said he also wanted to respond to Republican presidential candidates who criticize him for his decision to avoid the term “radical Islam” to refer to jihadist terrorism.
But Obama was quick to point out an absence of Muslim characters on television, especially in storylines not about national security.
Mr Obama, a Christian, outlined the tenets of Islam, and gave a brief history of Muslims in America.
Mosques and Islamic centers have been the targets of vandalism, harassment and other anti-Muslim acts at least 63 times ın 2015, according to a study by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
But many Muslims weren’t impressed, accusing Obama of hypocrisy and “anti-Muslim policies”, using the Twitter hashtag #TooLateObama.
Barack Obama declared that attacks on Islam were an attack on all religions.
He also pointed out that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Virginia statute for religious freedom that the “Mohammedan” should have his faith protected in the United States.
“It’s certainly true that we have seen an alarming willingness on the part of some Republicans to try to marginalize law-abiding, patriotic, Muslim-Americans”, he said.
Advertisement
Obama’s motorcade zipped past two women holding signs protesting his visit and equating Islam to terrorism.
