Minnesotan poised to be Congress' first Muslim

[Bent_Bladi]

Keith Ellison's candidacy has contributed to a political awakening among immigrants in the state who share his faith.
By Noam N. Levey, Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2006


MINNEAPOLIS — The months after Sept. 11, 2001, were not easy ones for Muslims in Minnesota.

The state was thrust into the spotlight as the home of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person prosecuted in the U.S. for the attacks. Federal authorities closed down a Muslim-owned money transfer agency with alleged ties to Al Qaeda. And Minneapolis police fatally shot a mentally ill Muslim man from Somalia.

"The community was shell-shocked," said Hussein Samatar, a businessman who moved to Minnesota from Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1994.

Yet five years later, Minnesota may elect the first Muslim member of Congress.

State Rep. Keith Ellison, a black attorney from Detroit who converted to Islam as a college student, is not a member of the burgeoning Somalian community in Minneapolis. But his journey to the brink of political history reflects how immigration is transforming politics even on the nation's northern edge.

Ellison, 43, won the Democratic primary in the state's 5th Congressional District last month in part by bringing new Muslim voters into a coalition that drew, in part, on Minneapolis' black, Jewish, and gay and lesbian communities. He celebrated his primary victory at an East African restaurant in a Somalian neighborhood.

Favored to win in the heavily Democratic district, Ellison has courted Muslim support not just in Minnesota but nationwide. Last weekend, he flew to Florida for a fundraiser hosted by one of that state's Muslim leaders.

His candidacy is a "huge victory for both Muslim Americans and America," said Agha Saeed, chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce, a California-based coalition working to elect Muslims to public office. It "has eradicated two stereotypes: one against Muslims, that they cannot work and succeed in a democratic setup, and the other against the United States, that it is not a tolerant society."

A generation ago, Minnesota would have been an improbable place for Ellison's success.

Though the state has nurtured a progressive strain in its politics for generations, its diversity was usually defined in terms of Swedes, Norwegians and Finns.

Today, immigrants still make up a relatively small percentage of the state's population. According to the latest census estimates, 6% of Minnesota residents are foreign-born, compared with 27% in California. (In Minneapolis, the proportion is 16% — higher than the nation's 12% but lower than Los Angeles' 40%.)

But a steady stream of refugees — first Hmong from Southeast Asia and, in the 1990s, Muslims from East Africa — have transformed Minneapolis, as well as other parts of the state.

By some estimates, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is home to more than 50,000 immigrants from Africa, placing it among the top four centers of such immigrants in the U.S.

"This is a very different place than it was 30 years ago," said Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

Ellison's candidacy is a product of that change.

His Muslim faith attracted little attention when he won a seat in the state House of Representatives four years ago. But when Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Olav Sabo — the son of Norwegian immigrants — said in March that he would retire after 28 years in Congress, Ellison launched a campaign aimed squarely at mobilizing Muslim immigrants.

"We need the voice of all people," Ellison said recently. "You never know where the good ideas are going to come from."

His overtures generated interest in a Muslim community that had played little part in the state's politics.

"We in general are not very excited about the political process, in part because of the countries we came from," said Ali Jaafar, a Lebanese-born physicist who came to the U.S. as a student in the late 1960s and moved to Minnesota in the '90s.

Jaafar, who hosted a fundraiser for Ellison with Muslim leaders, said he was impressed that the candidate "talked about civil liberties … about poverty and health insurance. These are issues that are important to us."

Ellison, who blends earnestness with an unapologetic passion for a liberal platform, also spoke out often against the war in Iraq, a message that resonated with Muslim voters. He is calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.

In seeking to galvanize Muslim support, Ellison was a frequent visitor to the Karmel Square shopping mall, where Somalian vendors selling richly colored fabrics, sweet tea and other products from their homeland have created the economic heart of the city's African immigrant community.

Muslim voters have responded to Ellison, businessman Samatar said. "I think people realized that if we are serious about participating in this Minnesota community, we had better participate in the political process."

Ellison defeated six Democrats in the primary. But obstacles to his election in November might include a dispute he has with a woman who has said she had an extramarital relationship with him — which he has denied. Both parties have filed legal papers in the matter.

Ellison's Muslim identity also has generated controversy.

An article he wrote while a law student under the name Keith E. Hakim and his work helping organize the 1995 Million Man March — an event conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — sparked charges that he shared Farrakhan's anti-Semitic views.

After the primary, GOP opponent Alan Fine wasted little time assailing Ellison on this front. Fine called a news conference to say he was "personally offended as a Jew" by Ellison's candidacy.

Ellison has denied he was a Nation of Islam member before becoming a mainstream Muslim. The attacks appear not to have seriously weakened his support; backers include several Jewish leaders.

"You know, everybody is something," Ellison said as he campaigned in a working-class neighborhood recently and was asked about his faith by a voter. "You're black, you're white, you're Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist…. Let's talk about what we all share."


Link

[Al-khiyal]

CNN host to first-ever Muslim congressman: "Prove to me that you're not working with our enemies."

[voltaire]

He's won already. They'll get over it eventually, and see past his religion.



V

[Al-khiyal]

He's won already. They'll get over it eventually, and see past his religion.


V

WASHINGTON — The first Muslim elected to Congress hasn't been sworn into office yet, but his act of allegiance has already been criticized by a conservative commentator.

In a column posted Tuesday on the conservative website Townhall.com, Dennis Prager blasted Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison's decision to take the oath of office Jan. 4 with his hand on a Quran, the Muslim holy book.

"He should not be allowed to do so," Prager wrote, "not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American culture."

He said Ellison, a convert from Catholicism, should swear on a Christian Bible — which "America holds as its holiest book. … If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress."

The post generated nearly 800 comments on Townhall.com and sparked a tempest in the conservative blogosphere. Many who posted comments called the United States a Christian country and said Muslims are beginning to gain too much influence. Others wrote about the separation of church and state and said the Constitution protects all religions.

Dave Colling, Ellison's spokesman, said he was unavailable for comment. Earlier, Ellison told the online Minnesota Monitor, "The Constitution guarantees for everyone to take the oath of office on whichever book they prefer. And that's what the freedom of religion is all about."

Colling said Ellison's office has received hundreds of "very bigoted and racist" e-mails and phone calls since Prager's column appeared. "The vast majority said, 'You should resign from office if you're not willing to use the book our country was founded on,' " Colling said.

"Requiring somebody to take an oath of office on a religious text that's not his" violates the Constitution, said Kevin Hasson, president of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

Members of the House of Representatives traditionally raise their right hands and are sworn in together on the floor of the chamber. The ritual sometimes seen as the swearing-in is actually a ceremonial photo op with the speaker of the House that usually involves a Bible.

"They can bring in whatever they want," says Fred Beuttler, deputy historian of the House.

Prager, who is Jewish, wrote that no Mormon elected official has "demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon." But Republican Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, carried a volume of Mormon scriptures that included the Bible and the Book of Mormon at his swearing-in ceremony in 1997.

Prager, who hosts a radio talk show, could not be reached for comment.

Newly elected Muslim lawmaker under fire

[Bent_Bladi]

What the hell?! How can he swear on a book that he doesn't completely believe in. Who the hell is this loony to say that swearing on the Quran "undermines American culture". What a psycho!!

And it's about time that Muslims start to have more influence on America and Americans -- POSITIVELY!! Sheesh, it's as if we aren't even human...

[Al-khiyal]

America, not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on

See reader comments and note use of photograph of woman with Qur'an at a Hamas rally chosen to accompany the article.

[Bent_Bladi]

Wow, I didn't know that there are so many idiots out there. How sad