American Muslim Political Leaders Host Virtual National Iftar
Washington, DC: On Tuesday evening, Muslim Advocates, and Honorary Co-Chairs Reps. André Carson, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison hosted The National Iftar.
This historic online event served as a nationwide celebration of Ramadan for American Muslims and their allies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured a political discussion from the co-hosts, stories from heroes working on the front lines of the pandemic, reflections from spiritual leaders and Ramadan greetings from American Muslim politicians, artists, business leaders and more.
Muslim Advocates Executive Director Farhana Khera expressed gratitude for the opportunity to host this historic iftar during this historic time:
“Tonight’s event is special. Muslim Advocates is proud to co-host the only iftar co-hosted by every American Muslim who’s ever served in Congress. Tonight we celebrate the resilience of American Muslims and all Americans as our nation continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Honorary Co-Chair Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) talked about what Ramadan means to her:
“I’m really excited to have this opportunity to celebrate Ramadan this month by showing my gratitude to my community and to my family. This month is especially important because we get to really take stock of every single blessing we have and care for those who are less fortunate.”
Honorary Co-Chair and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison discussed his mother, who recently died from COVID-19 complications, and shared how that experience brought his family together:
“Right before Ramadan started, my mother passed away. And as you know, our faith tells us that our mother is the most dear to us. And my mother’s death was related to COVID. So this Ramadan has helped me manage the loss of one of the most important people in my life and my prayers are more earnest, my connection with family has been more dear. And we’ve really learned that physical proximity is not required in order to build family relation. You can build relationships without necessarily being able to be physically close. We couldn’t hug each other at the funeral. We could only have 50 people there. It was really tough but that did not inhibit the love that was between us.”
Honorary Co-Chair Rep. André Carson (D-IN) talked about the government’s role in the pandemic and the need to address racial disparities:
“The government has a role in protecting citizens and offering guidance and precautionary measures. I think the government has a responsibility of making sure people are practicing social distancing. We don’t want to see what happened in New York where the racial disparities are very apparent; where you had whites being treated one way, Blacks and Latinos being treated a different way.”
Honorary Co-Chair Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) talked about what needs to be done to protect frontline workers at meatpacking plants, many of whom are immigrants:
“No one should be fearing for their life going to work, especially so many of my neighbors who, just a few months ago, were considered unskilled workers and are now considered essential workers. It does not mean now that they open up their livelihood and give up the sense of security of feeling safe at the workplace. And so I think it’s really critically important, especially at the federal level, that not only is it about resources and expanding testing, it’s also really critically important that we set up some guidelines through OSHA. Very set, very clear guidelines than an attorney general like Keith Ellison can enforce, that we can actually put teeth into it requiring that there is a set standard for many of these industries now that, to be honest, are going to be so focused on the Excel sheets, the budgets, the profit and not be focused on making sure that the lives of the workers are protected.”
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