Yesterday at the U.S. Capitol, a group of activists from Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) were on Capitol Hill as part of Muslim Advocacy Day, organized by the US Council on Muslim Organizations, (USCMO) which is a coalition of 21 advocacy groups. Most Senators were only to happy to meet with the members of CAIR, except for one: Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Alia Salem of CAIR remarked:
“This is the only office that has outright declined to meet with us, which is indicative of his behavior in the media as well.”
In a video the group made, Salem is joined by Muslim American Society executive director Mazen Mokhtar. Mokhtar recalled that members of Cruz’s office staff said there would be no meeting with the Texas Senator:
“Needless to say, we’re disappointed, and we will continue to try to meet with our representatives, because our voice needs to be heard.”
In recent months, Cruz has taken an increasingly hard line on all things involving Islam or the Muslim community. One of Cruz’s foreign policy advisors, Frank Gaffney, even went so far as to allege that Monday’s event was organized by groups “associated with Islamic supremacism.”
Shortly after the group was rebuffed by Cruz, the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations issued a statement:
“This evening, representatives of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), a coalition of leading national and local American Muslim groups, will hold a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to condemn the refusal of GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his congressional staff to meet with Muslim constituents during today’s second National Muslim Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill.
“Some 330 Muslim delegates from 28 states are meeting with a third of the House of Representatives and almost half of the Senate.
“Earlier today, 14 Texas Muslim delegates to the National Muslim Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill tried to meet with either Sen. Cruz or a member of his congressional staff, but were told no one would meet with them. The delegates had tried to arrange a meeting for several weeks prior to today’s event.”
Even if you disagree with someone, can’t you even give them the courtesy of listening to them? After all, these are also constituents of Senator Cruz, whether he wants to admit it or not.
Here’s the video shot by the group that attempted to meet with Cruz:
Featured Image Via YouTube Screengrab
