Johari Abdul-Malik – Why Cant A Muslim Be A President
AI: Summary ©
The speaker, who is a clerk in the Islamic Church, discusses the importance of affirming the constitution and respecting the human rights of Americans. He also addresses concerns about some of the political candidates running for the presidency, stating that the American people should say loudly and clearly that they want representatives who speak to a nation that is 1 nation under God and for everyone everyone.
AI: Summary ©
And finally, we'll have imam Imam Johari,
with the Council of Muslim Organizations for the
Greater Washington DC area. Is that
no. Good morning, everyone. If you can spell
Imam Johari Abdul Malik, I m a m
j o h a r I.
Abdul Malik, a b dulhyphenmalik.
I serve on the board of the,
Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington
DC.
But I think perhaps this morning, I really
stand,
before you,
as a father,
as someone who, if you ask the members
of our council, they would say, every child
has the right to dream
that they could become the president of the
United States.
Myself,
I'm a native son of Brooklyn, New York,
descendant
of enslaved Africans freed by the president of
the United States
and confirmed by the congress in the 14th
13th amendments to the constitution,
reaffirmed and freed again by the Civil Rights
Act of 1964
65.
So I stand also as the clergy in
the Islamic tradition saying there is no contradiction
between our faith
and the constitution of the United States of
America.
And it enshrines
for us in its first amendment
that we have the freedom to practice our
religion peacefully
along with other citizens.
And we have the right as a citizen
to run for any office of the United
States and to let the American
people decide
who should be their leaders.
Doctor Martin Luther King reminds us that we
should evaluate people not based on the color
of their skin, but based on the content
of their character.
Now I have some concerns about some of
the characters
who are running for the office of the
United States presidency
because
when you say I'm going to be the
president,
it means that you're going to uphold the
constitution
against enemies,
foreign
and domestic.
General Colin Powell reminds us that if someone
is eligible to die for their country,
then they should have the right to lead
their country.
I believe sincerely that we now have a
problem in America with our moral compass,
that it's time for us to say as
an American people, black, white, red, yellow, Muslim,
Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian,
every faith and no faith Come on.
To be able to say never again will
we go back to a tradition
of
racism and bigotry.
I move that we, as a people, move
forward with a spirit of
civility.
There are those who have said
that our nation has survived
World War 1, World War 2, Vietnam.
We now run the risk of being destroyed
from within
by those who would seek to divide us.
We are a society that respects law and
order,
and we expect to have law enforcement
executed
with the highest levels of civil rights, human
rights,
due process,
and justice.
I'm gonna close,
but to say that I believe that the
American people should say loudly and clearly
that we want representatives
who speak to a nation that is 1
nation
under God
and maybe for some people good consciousness
with liberty for everybody
and justice for all.
Thank you.