President Obama Acknowledges Anti-Islam Attitudes During State of the Union

On Tuesday, January 25^th, President Barack Obama delivered his 3rd State of the Union  address before a joint session of Congress. While Obama acknowledged such topics as the Tucson tragedy and focused a plan for America’s future (our “Sputnik moment”), one line from the address stood out as different, vital, and important in the on going quest for religious freedom for all in the United States. In the latter half of his speech, while addressing US combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, al Qaeda, and terrorism,the President proclaimed, “American Muslims are part of our American family”.

Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) tweeted, not more than a few minutes later, “Did I see the whole chamber standing?”. To see so many congress members’ hearty agreement with the President’s statement was encouraging considering this past summer’s contentious debate over Park 51, popularly called the “Ground Zero Mosque”. However as various states, such as Wyoming, continue to attempt to outlaw “sharia’h law”,  and Islamic religious and community centers continue to be denied their constitutional right to provide for their constituents, we must take this small victory with the acknowledgement of the hard work ahead of all Americans in fostering positive relations with our fellow citizens who just happen to be Muslims.

Slowly and steadily as Temecula approves the building of the hotly contested mosque and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, kicks off his tour to fight discrimination, we are making more Americans aware of their Muslim neighbors throughout the country. Our greatest hope is that when President Obama delivers his 2012 address, he will not have to state that American Muslims are part of our American family, because we will already know it to be true.

Watch Obama’s State of the Union Address here, or read the transcript.

Contributed by Nicole Edine

Tags: barack obama, islam in america, religion in america, state of the union