Bernie Sanders Vows To Fight Back Against Islamophobia In The 2016 Race

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Bernie Sanders Vows To Fight Back Against Islamophobia In The 2016 Race
Alice Ollstein
Think Progress

But in one of the most emotional moments of the night, George Mason University senior Remaz Abdelgader stood up and demanded to know how Sanders would address the rising tide of Islamophobia in the U.S. Her voice breaking, she spoke of how hurt she feels when she hears anti-Muslim rhetoric from other candidates for president — including GOP frontrunners Ben Carson, who has said he doesn’t want a Muslim as president of the U.S.

“Being an American is such a strong part of my identity, but I want to create a change in this society,” she said. “I’m so tired of listening to this rhetoric saying I can’t be president one day, that I should not be in office. It makes me so angry and upset. This is my country.”

Sanders insisted she join him on stage and gave her a hug as the crowd of a couple hundred stood and cheered.

Then, in response to her question, Sanders does something he rarely does: he spoke personally about his Jewish faith and family history, which includes losing relatives in the Holocaust, and said Americans need to learn from that past. “If we stand for anything we have to stand together and end all forms of racism in this country,” he said. “I will lead that effort as president.”

Sanders also talked about the ways people in power have used racism and prejudice throughout U.S. history to keep working class people from uniting.

“They told white workers who were earning pennies an hour, ‘Hey, you think you’re in trouble, but you’re better off than the blacks,'” he said. “And they told straight people, ‘You’re better off than those gay people.’ And they pitted men against women. It’s always playing one group against another. That’s how the rich got richer while everybody else was fighting each other. Our job is to build a nation in which we all stand together.”

Minutes after the town hall and rally ended, Abdelgader told ThinkProgress that she was thrilled at Sanders’ answer, saying she was almost moved to tears but didn’t want to ruin up her makeup.

“If there’s anyone that should be elected to the White House, it’s him. He stands for everybody, whether you’re gay or Muslim or black or Christian or Latino. He is for equality. That’s why I identify with the next president of the United States: Bernie Sanders.”

Sanders promises to lead fight against Islamophobia
Ben Kamisar
The Hill

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“Our job is to build a nation in which we all stand together as one,” he said.

“There is a lot of anger being generated, hatred being generated against Muslims in this country, that is absolutely correct. There is hatred being generated against immigrants in this country. “

The Democratic presidential candidate was interrupted many times by cheers from the friendly crowd. Sanders has seen significant support on college campuses and closed the speech by telling the students that their participation “give[s] me great hope.”

“There are some out there who think, ‘Well, students and young people are apathetic, they won’t get involved, they are busy partying and so forth,’ ” he said.

“What you are saying here tonight is that you love your country and you are going to fight as hard as you can to make this the country we know it can be.”

[BuelahWitch]

1. Beautiful!