Ahead of the presidential election, we’ve been hearing from voters across the country and the state. Analysts have remarked on the heated rhetoric of this year’s elections; specifically language used to describe immigrants, refugees and Muslim Americans.
During the second presidential debate, one Muslim woman, Gorbah Hamed, posed this question to candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
“There are 3.3 million Muslims in the United States and I’m one of them,” said Hamed. “You’ve mentioned working with Muslim nations, but with Islamophobia on the rise, how will you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled as a threat to the country after the election is over?”
Thursday, the day after the third and final Presidential debate, we continue our RhodyVotes ‘16 coverage of the election with three Muslims who call Rhode Island home, to find out what they think of the candidates and the current political climate.
Hannan Saeed is an engineering student at the Community College of Rhode Island, Mufti Ikram ul Haq, leads the Masjid Al-Islam, a mosque in northern Rhode Island, and Umer Akbar is a doctor and assistant professor of Neurology at Brown University. They spoke with Rhode Island Public Radio host Chuck Hinman, who started out by asking whether they feel labeled as this campaign goes on.
