“I say: Apologize Congressman Kirk

On Saturday, in front of a standing-room only crowd of over 4, 000 attendees at the Immigrant Justice Convention held by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), US Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who represents the diverse 9th district, publicly condemned the remarks made by her colleague, Mark Kirk, saying she is deeply offended by his remarks. The audience, a diverse group of Latinos, Arabs, South Asians, Poles, Koreans, Chinese and others, loudly cheered when Congresswoman Schakowsky said that Mr. Kirk needs to apologize for his racist remarks. Referring to Congressman Kirk’s remarks, Juan Salgado, the president of ICIRR said, “when Muslims are attacked, we are all Muslims."

In her speech Ms. Schakowsky said, “No one should be “OK” with discrimination. Comments like this, which characterize an entire group of people, represent the kind of thinking that ultimately led to the internment of Japanese-American during World War II…Policies that incorporate discrimination result in the erosion of the civil liberties of all Americans. Law enforcement and security actions based primarily on skin color, national origin or religion are inconsistent with this country’s core constitutional principles of equality and fairness as well as ineffective and inefficient. I concur with Benjamin Franklin who said, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” What do you say about a U.S. Congressman who would “give up a liberty” without any gain in security? I say, apologize Congressman Kirk.”

Later in the convention, Council board member, Kareem Irfan, led a Call to Action against Kirk’s remarks, asking the audience to sign post cards asking the Congressman to apologize, and thanking members of the coalition who are holding Kirk accountable for his racist remarks. According to a press conference held on Tuesday, 800 post cards will be delivered to Congressman Kirk’s Deerfield office by representatives from ICIRR, the Council and CAIR-Chicago.

Congresswoman Schakowsky joins Senator Barack Obama and Congressman Luis Gutierrez in publicly disagreeing with Congressman Kirk’s comments. The Council urges the Muslim community to contact their legislators and to inform them of our community’s wish that they distance themselves from Congressman Kirk’s racist and counter-productive remarks.