Photo credit: “Donald Trump Signs the Pledge” by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
By Dorothy Le —
On Friday, a Muslim woman was escorted out by security guards at Donald Trump’s rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, after engaging in a silent protest towards the presidential candidate.
Rose Hamid, a 56-year-old flight attendant from North Carolina, stood up directly behind Trump as he spoke on how the refugees fleeing Syria were involved with Islamic State militants. As president of a group called Muslim Women of the Carolinas and a registered Democrat, Hamid attended the event in hopes of showing the audience and Trump supporters, a Muslim coming in a peaceful manner. This comes at a time when Trump has been viewed portraying Muslims in a negative light throughout his speeches.
As she told ABC News, “My intention was to stand up when he said something that was offensive, not just for Muslims but for anyone,” she said. Sporting a white head scarf and a blue shirt displaying “Salam, I come in peace,” Hamid stood up among jeers from the crowd and then security approached her and a friend and told them that they had to leave the premises.
The pair were later told that they were being disruptive, to which Hamid replied, “I would like to hear what Trump has to say about it…I’d like to hear because if they say that it was because we were disrupting things, then I would like him to show evidence of where the disruption came, because the disruption didn’t come from me. It came from his followers because they saw me.”
Since the incident, Trump still has not addressed the issue during his two campaigns in Iowa the following Saturday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has issued a call to seek an apology for Hamid as well as the Muslim community, but have had no response from Trump’s camp.
Executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Nihad Awad, states, “The image of a Muslim woman being abused and ejected from a political rally sends a chilling message to American Muslims and to all those who value our nation’s traditions of religious diversity and civic participation.”
Trump has long targeted Muslims throughout his presidential campaign–once citing that all foreign Muslims should be banned from entering the United States, and claimed that he had witnessed thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering for the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, which was later debunked.
While the incident further puts a wedge between Trump and the Muslim population, Hamid demonstrated an example of protesting in peace–peace, which is a teaching of Islam that the majority of Muslims hold on to.
its so sad how muslims get portrayed in an incorrect way…people need to get out there and get the right kind of knowledge.
sucks how things become so generalized.