Rep. Keith Ellison, one of Congress’s two Muslim lawmakers, says it’s business as usual despite Donald Trump’s proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from the country.
Ellison even found a silver lining in Trump’s call to stop Muslims from entering the country. There’s a “message of hope” in Trump’s “foolishness” because it’s “so damn desperate,” he said. “There is no confidence in it. It shows weakness and fear.”
But the congressman’s routine belied the chaos engulfing Muslims around the country. Following the California shooting by a couple who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, anti-Muslim violence appears to be escalating. A shop owner in New York City was savagely beaten last weekend by a stranger promising to “kill Muslims,” while a Muslim man praying and playing volleyball in a San Francisco Bay area park was struck by a woman saying he was “deceived by Satan.” In Philadelphia, a severed pig’s head was discovered outside a mosque, interrupting morning prayers.
Yet this is not so extraordinary, Carson and Ellison note. They have faced multiple threats on their lives since arriving in Congress. Each has received police protection for periods of time while on the job. They say they trust the Capitol Police, which is investigating the most recent threat against Carson, to sort things out.
Ellison, who called optimism his “weakness,” admitted he might be deluding himself.
Trump’s rise is a painful reminder to U.S. Muslims that some Americans remain uncomfortable with them, more than half have a “somewhat” or “very unfavorable” view of Islam, according to one poll taken earlier this year. Forty-two per cent of Republicans and 38 per cent of GOP primary voters support Trump’s plan to temporarily prevent Muslims from entering the country (although 57 per cent of Americans oppose it).
Ellison, an African-American convert to Islam, has faced this discomfort from colleagues in the House.
After Ellison’s election in 2006, for example, former Rep. Virgil Goode called on constituents to embrace strict immigration laws, lest more Muslims get elected to Congress and choose to be sworn in on the Quran.
At the office on Thursday, Ellison aides related stories about the hateful phone calls he receives daily, even when Trump is not fanning the flames of discord. Callers typically argue that the constitution bars Muslims from serving in office. It does not. They are young and old, and from around the county. Some sound drunk, aides said.
It’s a strange time for the congressman’s staff, which largely avoids talking about Islam, even as the phone rings with slurs and insults against their boss. There are no Muslim aides in the Washington office, and outside of a Quran on Ellison’s desk, hardly any obvious evidence of his faith.
