Washington, DC | www.adc.org | September 18, 2015 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) denounces GOP candidate Donald Trump for promoting Islamophobia by validating anti-Muslim comments at a town hall event on Thursday evening in Rochester, New Hampshire. These bigoted comments incite violence and hate crimes against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, including Arab-Americans.
The Republican Party leadership has stood idly by while many of its candidates continue to spew xenophobic hatred towards Arab-Americans and perpetuate Islamophobia. The Republican Party cannot realistically represent the United States and lead a diverse society when many of their presidential candidates blatantly ostracize American citizens because of their different religious beliefs and national origins.
During the event, one of Mr. Trump’s supporters called President Obama a Muslim, stated that Muslims are a problem in this country, and then asked Mr. Trump: “When we can get rid of them?”
Rather than rebuking his supporter for promoting hatred, Mr. Trump gave credence to the man’s bigoted comments by stating, “We’re going to be looking at that and many other things.”
The Republican Party leadership must stand up and officially repudiate these anti-Muslim comments and all xenophobic and bigoted comments by political candidates.
The rise of racist political rhetoric in the U.S. is already a serious concern for the Arab-American community. The exploitation of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry for political gain by GOP candidates exacerbates this illogical fear of Muslims and Arabs, and demonizes a group of people solely based on their religion.
Background Articles:
- “Finally, Trump and the GOP Start Muslim-Bashing,” [Dean Obeidallah, The Daily Beast]
- “Trump doesn’t challenge anti-Muslim questioner at event” [CNN]
- “Donald Trump Does Not Correct a Man Who Called Obama a Muslim” [New York Times]