Last week members of an aggressive anti-Muslim group traveled from around the country to promote their bigoted agenda on Capitol Hill. As incidents of anti-Muslim violence become a devastatingly regular occurrence, the presence of this extremist group demonstrates just how far Islamophobia has broken into the mainstream.
The anti-Muslim group, ACT for America, is widely recognized as a hate group. Its founder, Brigitte Gabriel, has claimed that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”
We couldn’t let this hate stand unchallenged.
Together with our allies at MPOWER Change, we circulated a petition asking Members of Congress to boycott ACT for America’s events in DC. This year, ACT for America refused to release the names of Members of Congress slated to speak at its conference, to shield them from scrutiny. Nearly 12,000 people around the country called them out.
And it worked!
At least six Members of Congress cancelled meetings with ACT for America. And contrary to their expectations, significantly fewer Members of Congress spoke at ACT’s briefing than last year.
But there’s more. Despite its overt bigotry, ACT for America still denies that its work is driven by hate. So we went to the Capitol to see for ourselves, along with our friends at the Washington Peace Center. We asked ACT for America members to reject anti-Muslim hate… and got some pretty interesting answers. Watch below, and don’t miss one man’s sickening attempt to use the Bible to justify hate.