Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslims Advocates, in response to President Donald Trump’s continued hostility toward immigrants, people of color, Muslims and many other American communities:
“President Trump is clearly incapable of governing a country as diverse and strong as the United States.
America is not the Trump Organization, where he personally curated and insulted his employees and ejected them at will; it’s a thriving, pluralistic society built on immigrants and people of all colors, backgrounds, and religions.
President Trump’s comments prove that he has no understanding or interest in the fact that America has always been diverse – calling peoples’ countries of origin “sh*tholes”; spreading false narratives of Mexican immigrants as “rapists and drug dealers”; repeatedly impugning Muslims; referring to black neighborhoods as “Hell”; claiming all Haitians have AIDS; and the list unfortunately goes on.
The consequences of this rhetoric are real. Hate crimes have skyrocketed under Trump’s presidency, mosques have been burned and bombed, and people have been discriminated against and attacked in the streets.
These latest comments are a reflection of the callous disregard he has shown these communities in the administration’s policies, through his dogged determination to eject any non-white immigrant group from this country, his ban on Muslims, his rollbacks to the rights of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community, and his continued attacks on low-income people of all races.
Faced with an administration set on sowing division, we must remain united. America is at our best when we recognize this heritage of diversity and band together to preserve our future.”
Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths.