The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s and Virginia Senator Time Kaine’s “principled” responses to an anti-Muslim social media post by Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville targeting Virginia Lt. Governor Ghazala Hashmi.
Sen. Tuberville shared a post attacking Ghazala Hashmi for taking her oath with her hand on a Quran. The post said” “Islam is not interested in assimilating, it’s interested in conquering you.” Above the post, Tuberville wrote: “The enemy is inside the gates.” In a tweet, Sen. Van Hollen called Tuberville’s remarks “pure, unabashed bigotry.” “If a politician said this about any other faith, they would rightfully be run out of their party,” added Van Hollen.
Sen. Kaine’s tweet responding to Tuberville said: “Ghazala Hashmi is my friend, was my state Senator and now is my Lieutenant Governor. (Also a scholar of American poetry.) Tommy has never met her. But he brands her an ‘enemy.’ Because she’s an immigrant? A Muslim? A woman? A poet? Or more likely . . . because he thinks trashing this accomplished and patriotic American will make Alabamians rally to his campaign for Governor. Wow—he really thinks poorly of his voters.”
SEE: ‘Unabashed bigotry’: GOP’s Tuberville sparks backlash with anti-Muslim messages
“We thank Senators Van Hollen and Kaine for their principled stand against Senator Tuberville’s blatant anti-Muslim bigotry and for defending the religious freedom enshrined in our Constitution,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw. “We call on both Democratic and Republican senators to condemn Senator Tuberville’s hateful comment and repudiate anti-Muslim bigotry.”
Washington, D.C., based CAIR recently added Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville to its list of anti-Muslim extremists in the United States in the wake of his increasingly hateful and dangerous attacks on Alabama Muslims, including his recent targeting of Alabama Muslim K-12 school children.
That marked the first time that CAIR has ever designated a U.S. senator as an anti-Muslim extremist.
SEE: CAIR’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville Profile
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com