Rep. André Carson, one of only two Muslims in Congress, condemned Donald Trump on Tuesday
for suggesting that Muslims were inherently untrustworthy.“The fact is
that I’m the only member of Congress who has worked in an intelligence
fusion center,” Carson told The Daily Beast, referring to his work
before entering the House of Representatives.Fusion centers are
information-sharing offices used to facilitate the distribution of
information between intelligence agencies, law enforcement, the
military, and local governments. Carson is also a member of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he has been cleared to
received classified assessments about threats, and where he helps
oversee the American intelligence community.“There are Muslims in the
law-enforcement community, in our intelligence community, who are
pushing back and are helping keep our country and the global community
safe,” Carson said. “To view one group as a threat without making
distinctions and understanding nuance… shows a lack of maturity and it
shows an inclination to discriminate.”Carson, a Democrat, said he had
met Trump in the past, and that the businessman is “a smart man, which
makes his rhetoric that much more dangerous.”In a new proposal Monday,
Trump suggested barring all Muslims from entering the United
States.“[O]ur country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by
people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or
respect for human life,” Trump said.The congressman, who represents a
district in Indiana, said that “given his rhetoric and the xenophobic
tone, the Islamophobic tone of [Trump’s] message, he’s not ready for
primetime, given that America is a pluralistic society.” |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment