(WASHINGTON, D.C, 12/13/21) – On Friday, dozens of American Muslim organizations sent a letter addressed to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer calling for the censure of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and her removal from House Committee assignments following her repeated Islamophobic rhetorical attacks and falsehoods targeting Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
READ: Letter Calling for Rep. Boebert to be Censured, Removed from Committee Assignments
https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CensureBoebert.pdf
USCMO is the nation’s largest Muslim civil society umbrella organization and represents more than 30 state, regional and national Muslim organizations.
The letter finds that “Rep. Boebert’s belligerent, and so far, consequence-free, targeting of Rep. Omar with bigoted Islamophobic hate speech, falsehoods, and anti-Muslim tropes” calls into question Congress’ integrity as a respectable lawmaking body and “creates a dangerous work environment for American Muslim staff and elected officials to conduct their civic duties.”
Recently on OANN, Rep. Boebert explicitly called Rep. Omar a “terrorist,” while making other Islamophobic and false accusations.
The letter also states American Muslims have “waited too long for Republican leadership – starting with House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – to openly denounce Congresswomen Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s anti-Muslim hate speech and publicity stunts” and finds it is “irresponsible for Rep. McCarthy to spread the falsehood that Rep. Boebert has privately or publicly apologized.”
Despite ample opportunities, Rep. Boebert has not personally or privately apologized to Rep. Omar. The unapologetic tweet Rep. Boebert sent to “anyone in the Muslim community I offended” was half-hearted and insincere, and later contradicted by her doubling down in inflammatory attacks following her phone call with Rep. Omar.
American Muslims are “seriously concerned that Rep. Omar received a violent threat to her office in response to Rep. Boebert’s disparagingly anti-Muslim phone call, one of the hundreds of threats she has received over the years following anti-Muslim rhetorical attacks in Congress.”
The letter from leading Muslim organizations concludes by joining the “several dozen Democratic lawmakers, more than 400 congressional staffers, and Muslim staff who have already called” on Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer “to begin House proceedings to censure Rep. Boebert and remove her from committee assignments” adding “Failing to do so would signal that Islamophobia is an acceptable form of bigotry in the halls of Congress.”
Letter signatories include:
Arizona Muslim Alliance
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Emgage Action
Indian American Muslim Council
Jetpac Resource Center
Libyan American Alliance
Muslim American Society (MAS)
MPower Action
Muslim Justice League
Poligon Education Fund
U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO)
• American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
• American Muslim for Palestine (AMP)
• Baitulmaal for Relief and Development
• Burmese Rohingya Association of North America (BRANA)
• Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC)
• CAIR
• Dar Alhijrah Islamic Center
• Downtown Islamic Center – Chicago (DIC)
• Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD)
• International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
• Islamic Association of North America (IANA)
• Islamic Center of Chicago Western Suburbs (ICW)
• Islamic Center of Detroit (ICD)
• Islamic Community Center of Illinois (ICCI)
• Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN)
• Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
• Islamic Leadership Council of New York
• Islamic Shura Council of Southern California (ISCSC)
• Mercy Without Limits (MWL)
• Mosque Foundation (MF)
• The Mosque Cares (Ministry of Imam W. D. Mohammed)
• MAS
• Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
• Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA)
• Muslim Forum of the Pacific Northwest (MFPNW)
• New York Majlis Ashura
• North America Imams Federation (NAIF)
• Together We Serve (TWS)
• United Muslim Relief (UMR)
• United Hands Relief (UHR)
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La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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