WASHINGTON: American Tea Party activists launched anti-Islamic and racist slurs at American lawmakers and pro-health care reform leaders this week in what observers say is another example of how far “down the tubes politics in the United States has come.” According to Nihad Awad from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, these slurs and outbursts must “be looked into in order to see what is going on. It is not good.” His office confirmed to Bikya Masr that the director of the America-Islamic Relations has called on Republican leaders to take a stronger public stand and condemn the actions of the Tea Party activists in Washington. Reports say that protesters “spat on and shouted bigoted slurs at lawmaker Andre Carson and civil rights leader John Lewis” as they left the House of Representatives office building. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's official English language website said this shows “ignorance and Islamophobic tendencies.” CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization's mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam. Encouraging dialogue, protecting civil liberties, empowering American Muslims, and building coalitions are goals in which the organization are aiming for. It demanded an explanation from conservative leaders over the use of “charged language that is unacceptable in today's world.” By promoting justice and mutual understanding the organization believes it can “stem Islamophobia, which has notably risen along with the number of anti-government and anti-immigrant extremist groups during the past few years.” Awad added that the US must not let a vocal and bigoted minority “turn back the clock” on the Civil Rights Movement. Republican and Tea Party leaders have said that their protests are legal and “part of the political activism abounding in the US against the policies of Barack Obama and the Democrats.” They have argued Obama is a socialist and have been ardently against any health care reform, often equating the President to Hitler. BM
