ADC Calls on Sen. Obama to Personally Address Hijab Removal Incidents at Detroit Campaign Rally
Today, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) sent a letter to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama regarding two separate troubling incidents that occurred in Detroit, Michigan. Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in our nation and ADC is the largest civil rights organization working on behalf of the Arab-American community
On Monday, Obama campaign workers and volunteers barred two Muslim women from sitting behind the podium because they did not want the women’s hijabs (headscarves) from appearing in photographs or on television with Senator Obama. One of the women was told she could be behind the podium only if she removed her religious head covering.
In the letter to Senator Obama, ADC President Hon. Mary Rose Oakar and ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora asked the Senator to take the leadership in addressing this troubling issue and to personally send the message to everyone associated with the Obama Campaign, and all Americans, that such incidents of intolerance and disrespect will not be tolerated in the campaign just as they would not be tolerated in an Obama Administration.
To read ADC’s letter to Senator Obama, see: http://www.adc.org/PDF/obama.pdf