CNN: Muslim Congressman-elect Ellison: Congressman Goode has 'a lot to learn about Islam'

Ellison: Lawmaker has 'a lot to learn about Islam'
December 21, 2006


Democratic Minnesota Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, said Goode should learn more about Islam.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Virginia lawmaker criticized for writing an "Islamophobic" letter to his constituents would be wise to learn more about Islam, the first Muslim elected to Congress said Thursday.

Minnesota Rep.-elect Keith Ellison told CNN that he is not angry about a letter Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode wrote that said Ellison should not be allowed to place his hand on the Quran during his unofficial swearing in ceremony.

"I think the diversity of our country is a great strength," Ellison told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "It's a good thing that we have people from all faiths and all cultures to come here."

Goode wrote that to "preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States," an immigration overhaul was necessary to avoid "many more Muslims elected to office demanding the use of the Quran."...

***

Ellison responded to Goode's sentiments by saying that he would like to meet with Goode to talk about Islam and find some "common ground."

"We all support one Constitution, one Constitution that upholds our right to equal protection, one Constitution that guarantees us due process under the law, one Constitution which says there is no religious test for elective office in America," Ellison said....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/21/quran.congress/index.html

...Rep. Goode, "has a lot to learn about the Constitution" instead.

He's Muslim ... what other holy book would he choose? This whole thing is just crazy to me.

He could use Green Eggs and Ham for the photo op oath for all I care.

That's part of the reason I don't understand why this is such a big deal. It's just some closed minded politician attempting to get his name in the media.

Maybe they all should use Green Eggs and Ham. Sam I am is quite profound.

The story of its origin is very interesting. Mr. Geisel a.k.a. Dr. Seuss was given a challenge to create a reading primer within some very strict constraints on word length, sentence complexity, and vocabulary. What he created turned out to be a masterpiece of poetry and humor. The artwork is hilarious.

I grew up in La Jolla, the community where Geisel lived when he wrote most of his children's books. A lot of the fanciful-looking vegetation and architecture you see in the Dr. Seuss books come from the neighborhood.

Could someone please inform the VA congress-nut about this? No more amendments to require the true American bible for private ceremonies... He's going to be very unhappy sitting on the cat box committee with the other neo-cons.

for us to git rid of all Islamic influence on our country, and we should start with the alphabet and our numerical systems. That will make everything right.

Won't it?

:)

These bigots are disgusting.

= OK in symbols.

(Damn this is gonna be hard..oops...)

being a decent human being. I'm sure he went to put on his hooded robe right after his speach.

Rep. elect Ellison and less reps like Goode. That is the way we will "preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States".

Kudos to him. I agree with his statement that having a member who understands the Muslim viewpoint could be a very good thing.

He's a BLACK Muslim. A "Farrakhan-lovin" BLACK Muslim! :-)

And American born.

And a CONVERT!!! Someone who actually walked away from Roman Catholicism (okay, given what's going on with the Church, that's not so surprising) and CHOSE to be Muslim.

Must seriously stick in Goode's craw.

The entire thing is laughable. 7 years ago, the fact that Ellison is a BLACK Muslim would be on everyone's tongue. But now (especially with Farrakhan ailing), it's the fact that he's "Muslim", and of course, the first assumption is that he's Middle Eastern!

Yes, folks have an awful lot to learn about the Muslim movement in America. And I have no doubt that they won't like what they learn. Islam isn't big on the Beautitudes, i.e. poor/meek/merciful... or turning the other cheek. I have always felt that it is a good belief system for men, especially black men, who are concerned with how Christianity gets twisted into an expectation of doormat behavior.

Ellison was quite kind. In fact, the phrase "how white of you" comes to mind. It always amuses me when black folks demonstrate civility in the face of a white person's ugliness.

I have nothing against the fact that he's a Muslim, but a Farrakhan Muslim? That makes me uneasy.

Here is what's in the Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Ellison_(politician)#Farrakhan_and_Nation_of_Islam_ties

However, VERY FEW black Muslims shun Farrakhan, whether they are part of the Nation of Islam or not. He is one of those extremely controversial people who have some pluses and minuses on their scorecard, and it's a matter of opinion whether the balance is positive or negative.

It's sort of like how some people loved Clinton as a president and others hated him as a philanderer, (and possibly guilty of sexual harrassment). He was both.

I went and did some reading about Farrakhan and his statements. And some people will never find them acceptable. For example, Farrakhan has made some statements about Jews that are extremely negative, however, many of them are generalizations with some basis in anecdotal fact. What I mean by that is that if ANY Jews participated in the slave trade, then it's accurate to say so, but inaccurate to say that they all did. If there are ANY Jews who benefitted from business dealings with African-Americans, or were exploitative in these business dealings, then it's an accurate statement to say that "they made money off of us", but not accurate to suggest that they were the only ones, or that ALL of them did so.

While there could be many reasons for bringing these topics up when addressing a black crowd, one reason is generally to point out that we should be our own best friends, especially in terms of finance and business, instead of expecting any other ethnic group to hand us the keys to the kingdom.

Many of us who believe that this is a logical message make excuses for the way that it's presented. I'm definitely one of them. If getting people angry is necessary to get them out of a mindset of wanting others to take care of them financially (creating jobs for them) and push them to create their own businesses and business opportunities, then I think the end justifies the means.

With that said, I offer no excuse for "Hymietown". I don't like ethnic/racial slurs and it angers me when ANYONE uses them. However, I do sense that there is some surprise that black people are as guilty of it as so many other are. Sadly, we're as capable as bigotry and prejudice as any other American. I just think it's important to point out that it's something that we ALL need to work on... and then look and see how we can move forward.

I would add that the "gutter religion" or "dirty religion" comment can't be excused either. It would be one thing if he had said that someone is dirtying the religion, i.e. claiming to be religious but doing things that run counter to the principles of that religion. SUPPOSEDLY, that is what he meant. However, it's not what he said. He deserved condemnation for that statement.

At the same time, Farrakhan is historically pro-Arab and anti-Israel, and his statements in this regard are consistent. I see this as another Catch-22. It seems to be politically incorrect to point out anything that Israel does which is brutal or injust. Personally, this just reminds me of how important the 1st Amendment truly is.


And so.... Ellison is not a Farrakhan follower. But I ***GUARANTEE*** that he is knowledgeable about the Farrakhan controversy, and would probably have a different take on the matter than the average Congresscritter.

I think it is a good thing to be 'wary' of Ellison. The more I think about it, the more I hope he's the first of many.

He's still a Democrat when it comes to "free trade" issues (he's against all the stupid "free trade" agreements), but he's hit a new high in embarrasing oneself and a new low in denigrating a colleague with his outrageous stance against Ellison.

i would love to see the reaction of the wingnuts.

in I would choose Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was the most banned book series of 2006. ;)

View it here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=10624&mesg_id=10624