CAIR Banquet Sold Out, Congressional Coalition Blasts Anti-Muslim Reps

Submitted by Vee Jay (United States), Oct 27, 2009 at 23:20

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/23/09) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced today that its 15th annual banquet on October 24th in Arlington, Va., is sold out. (The banquet registration site will close tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. No tickets will be sold at the door.)

At the dinner on Saturday, hundreds of Muslim community members and activists, interfaith leaders and diplomats from Muslim nations will hear addresses by Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Congressman Paul Findley, Imam Mahdi Bray of MAS-Freedom, and Dr. Agha Saeed, chair of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT). Muslim comedian Ahmed Ahmed will perform at the banquet.

CAIR also announced that the Congressional Tri-Caucus, a coalition made up of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, released a statement blasting far-right House members who recently promoted a Muslim-bashing book to insinuate that Muslims in Congress are "spies."

The Congressional Tri-Caucus statement reads in part:

"These charges smack of an America of sixty years ago where lists of "un-American" agitators were identified. We should be affirming the importance of diversity and tolerance for all interns and staff who serve in Congress without suspicion of being identified as 'spies.'

"The idea that we should investigate Muslim interns as spies is a blow to the very principle of religious freedom that our founding fathers cherished so dearly. If anything, we should be encouraging all Americans to engage in the U.S. political process; to take part in, and to contribute to, the great democratic experiment that is America.

"We all have experienced the sting of discrimination and we know that there will be challenges ahead. But our message should be firm that the America we believe in welcomes people of all backgrounds to the U.S. Congress."

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