Democrats plan show of support for Muslims at Obama’s address
BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS
Miami Herald
Nearly 20 congressional Democrats have invited Muslim guests to President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address Tuesday, to counter what they say is negative rhetoric on Capitol Hill and speeches on the presidential campaign trail.
Amid calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. and to restrict the flow of Syrian refugees, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of two Muslim members of Congress, urged lawmakers in a letter to invite Muslim guests to Obama’s speech to show “the world that we will not be intimidated by fear into discrimination.”
“After so much disgusting rhetoric had been thrown around, none more so than calls to ban Muslims from entering the country to suggestions that we create registries and that we go back to the days of Japanese-American internment when it comes to Muslims, I thought it was absolutely critical that members of Congress stand together to show . . . that we are not going to tolerate that stain on American values,” Wasserman Schultz added in an interview.
Rank-and-file Congress members are allowed to bring one guest each to sit in the gallery above the House chamber for the president’s speech.
Source: www.miamiherald.com