CAIR Tells Donald Trump: 'Stop the Bigotry'

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today demanded that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump "stop the bigotry" after he falsely claimed on Fox News that assimilation of American Muslims is "pretty close" to nonexistent and that a "percentage" of American Muslims "want to do what this maniac did in Orlando."

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump said:

"Assimilation has been very hard. It's almost, I won't say nonexistent, but it gets to be pretty close. I'm talking about second and third generation. They come, they don't— for some reason there's no real assimilation."

"There is a percentage of people that want to do what this maniac did in Orlando. There's a percentage of people. That percentage becomes—the number of people become more and more as we take in thousands and thousands of more people. There's a hate that's going on that's unbelievable. Okay? Unbelievable. They don't mind dying. That's a hate that's going on that's unbelievable. And we allow it to happen."

Video: Donald Trump Falsely Claims American Muslims Don't Assimilate, Want to Commit Mass Murder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrR__yjU1kY

Today, Trump repeated his call for surveillance of American mosque.

SEE: Donald Trump Calls for Surveillance of Mosques During Atlanta Rally
http://tinyurl.com/zy447mb

"Donald Trump must stop the bigotry targeting American Muslims and other minorities before it takes America down the same dark path that has turned the people of other nations against each other," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Millions of American Muslims are contributing members of our society, and Muslims have been on this land before America was a nation."

He said Trump's divisiveness is helping our nation's enemies and is ultimately making America less safe.

Awad noted that a significant number of American physicians are Muslim, that there are Muslim judges, business people, elected officials, military personnel, athletes, and scientists, and that there are two Muslim members of Congress.

SEE: Trump claims American Muslims don't assimilate. The data shows he's wrong.
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/15/11943160/donald-trump-muslim-assimilation-us

Yesterday, CAIR welcomed remarks by President Barack Obama rebuking Donald Trump for his repeated use of anti-Muslim rhetoric and said such rhetoric undermines American values.

Earlier this year, CAIR said Donald Trump's continued use of a debunked myth about U.S. Gen. John Pershing executing Muslim prisoners in the Philippines using bullets dipped in pig's blood was endangering ordinary American Muslims who were already facing a surge in hate.

SEE: CAIR Says Trump's Continued Use of 'Pig's Blood' Myth Endangers American Muslims http://tinyurl.com/zlrclwx

CAIR has previously stated that Trump's pig's blood claim and other instances of his Islamophobic rhetoric, including his calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, his false claim that "Islam hates us," his refusal to rule out special IDs for American Muslims, and his willingness to consider closing down American mosques place millions of innocent, law-abiding citizens in the American Muslim community at risk.

CAIR has reported an unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide since the Paris terror attacks, the San Bernardino shootings and Trump's bigoted call for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States.

The Washington-based Muslim civil rights group is asking Muslim community members to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR's Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420 or by filing a report at: http://www.cair.com/civil-rights/report-an-incident/view/form.html      

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR Communications Coordinator Nabeelah Naeem, 202-341-4171, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

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