Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) promised Muslims a “side-by-side” role in the Kamala Harris’ administration should she become president.
“Vice President Harris and I are committed that this White House… will continue to condemn in all forms anti-Islam, anti-Arab sentiments being led by Donald Trump, but more importantly, a commitment that Muslims will be engaged in this administration and serve side by side,” Walz said during a virtual meeting organized by a Muslim American advocacy group, according to Reuters.
Walz also suggested that he would move toward a ceasefire in Gaza.
“The scale of death and destruction in Gaza is staggering and devastating,” he said, adding that a hypothetical Harris administration would work to ensure “suffering in Gaza ends now, and the Palestinian people realize the right to dignity, freedom and self-determination.”
A Muslim-American group said last month that it aims to elect at least 40 of its members to Congress in the next 10 years.
Leader of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Nihad Awad, said, “We can have in ten years, at least 40-50 members of Congress, in the U.S. Congress.”
Awad urged Muslims to be “scientific,” meaning that culture has created ideas, films, and attitudes “designed to portray you as the villain.”
“If we commit to do this, four years from now, the Muslim community will have 4,000 new journalists, we will have 4,000 filmmakers, 4,000 lawyers, 4,000 students of political science, 4,000 students of history. The next year we will have another 4,000,” he said. These people will “design our image, they will protect the truth and the news, most likely many of these people will run for public office and they will become lawmakers.”
