 Okay, I'd like to first say, Assalamu Alaikum, and we know that means peace, peace of God be upon you, and we want to welcome our senator, Bernie Sanders, and we are very grateful for him taking the time out of his schedule to visit us. This is a very historical moment for us here. This message here has 80-year history and 55 at this very location, so it just goes to speak to that Muslims have been here and in the nation's capital for a long time. In fact, this is called the nation's mosque because it's the first one that was built in the nation's capital by American citizens. And so we thank him for this being the spot where he will come to make some statements to address things that really serve to divide us, people are hurting, people are being attacked, etc. So with that, senator, we very much appreciate you being with us and certainly Congressman Keith Ellison as well. Well, let me thank you, Imam Sharif, and all those who are here with us for coming together at a very, very important moment in American history. Let me begin by stating the obvious. There is enormous anxiety and fear in this country. Our people are deeply concerned, justly so, about the threats of international terrorism. They are also worried about the state of economy and about the future of their children. They are worried as to why they are working longer hours and why they find it harder and harder to retire with dignity. They are worried as to why they're working so hard and yet almost all of the new income is going to the people on top. They are worried that we have more people in jail than any other country on earth and they're worried that maybe their kids will be one of those people in jail. They are worried, as Pope Francis recently reminded us, that our planet is heading in a suicidal direction with regard to climate change. What kind of planet? They worry we will be leaving our children and our grandchildren. And on and on it goes. And the truth is, these are very difficult times for our country. We've got to own up to that, not run away from that. And in fact, very difficult times for our entire world. The question is, how do we best address these issues? Do we focus on bringing people together to find real solutions so that we can effectively rebuild the disappearing middle class and effectively address the threat of international terrorism? Or do we allow demagogues to prey upon the fears and anxieties that so many are feeling and then divide us up based on our religion, our nationality, the color of our skin, our sexual orientation or our gender? Do we come together or do we allow demagogues to divide us up? That is the issue of the moment. It is no secret that throughout the world and in our own country, we have seen centuries of bigotry and discrimination, sometimes with unspeakable results. We must never forget what happened under the racist ideology of the Nazis, which led to the deaths of millions and millions of people, including family members of mine, as well as Poles, Russians, Gypsies, gay people, people with disabilities, people who were quote-unquote different, people who were quote-unquote inferior. Let's not forget what happened in Rwanda. Hundreds of thousands of people killed white because they were of different tribes. Let's not forget about Bosnia, where people had lived together and then suddenly were killed because they were of a different religion. Let's not forget about the fact that in our own country, from its very inception, from the very beginning, we saw horrendous pain and suffering inflicted upon Native Americans, upon African Americans. We will not forget the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese American internment camps, and the rampant discrimination that took place against immigrants coming into this country from Ireland, from Italy, from other countries around the world. Again, people thought to be different, discriminated against. But throughout this painful history in our country, something else was happening. And there was an extraordinary movement in this nation led by courageous people, incredible courage, people of all colors, all religions, all nationalities. And that was the effort to end bigotry, to end discrimination, and to do as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so aptly said, Look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. And I would add to that, not judged by their religion or their nation of origin. And we should be proud that we have made, in many ways, enormous progress in ending bigotry and ending discrimination. And let me give you just a few examples. Let us go back to 1960, not so long ago. And people said, what terrible things would happen if a Catholic, remember that? If a Catholic was elected to the presidency, and until his tragic assassination, it turned out that John F. Kennedy was a very popular and effective president. And we were told how terrible it might be if an African-American was elected president of the United States. Barack Obama won in 2008, and he was re-elected handily in 2012. And we were told what a terrible idea it would be if a Mormon, a Mormon ran for president, Mitt Romney ran, and he did pretty well. Whether it has been the struggle for religious tolerance, for racial tolerance, for women's rights, for gay rights, for the rights of people with disabilities, we as a nation have made enormous progress in combating discrimination, and we should be proud of what we have accomplished. But now, at this moment, with all of the fears and anxieties that people have about terrorism and about the economy, there are demagogues out there, people like Donald Trump, who once again are attempting to divide us up in xenophobic and racist ways. They want us to believe that people from Mexico coming into this country are rapists and criminals. They want us to believe that the average Muslim is a terrorist, and they want us to stop Muslims from coming into this country. And unbelievably, unbelievably, in defiance of the basic tenets of our Constitution, there are some who are even talking about shutting down mosques like the one we are in. And I should say, since Trump's incendiary comments, we have seen in this country, shamefully, an increase in hate speech and attacks on the Muslim American community, including death threats, directed and represented by Andrei Kosunov in Indiana. I have talked to Muslims in this country who are frightened. A young Muslim American recently told The New York Times, quote, I feel the last two months have probably been the hardest of my life, end of quote, and I think that person speaks for many thousands. It is time to say enough is enough. It is time to end religious bigotry. It is time to build a nation in which we all stand together. Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, all religions. And work to create a nation that benefits all of us. So today I am calling on all of us in public life, including my fellow candidates for president. And all Americans, to stand together and condemn the anti-Muslim rhetoric and hatred that we are hearing, to say no to those who promote this hatred and to make certain that we create an America that works for all of us, regardless of our religion or the color of our skins. Thank you. We certainly thank you for those comments. We can say this is a place of faith. We pray that the Cogleys and other leaders in our government will heed and see that the statement that you are making upon the very foundation fabric of what makes us great and what we are built upon. And of course we have with us our good congressman, Steve Ellison, so we will give him our opportunity. Well, Senator Sanders, thank you for your excellent statement. I really think it takes a lot of courage. I know you might not agree with that because this is just who you are. You've always stood up for all people. But in a time when bigots are leading in national polls, it takes a certain amount of courage to stand up and call us to our higher, nobler values, which you have just done. Thank you for that. I also want to just say, Imam Talib Sharif, as a leader of this mosque and a national leader yourself, I'd like people to be aware that you served our country in the United States Air Force for many years. And my son is active duty army today. He's a Muslim. He practices Islam and is inshallah, which means God willing. He's going to join us, join me for the State of the Union. He's from my district. He's an active duty soldier. He's a Muslim. He loves our country. He's a medic. It's his job to try to protect life. And I also want to say that I'm so very gratified to be here with both our Jewish leadership in clergy and Christian leadership in clergy and Muslim leadership in clergy. It's so important that we stand here together, hold hands together and let the world know that this is all of our country. And I would add one thing, if I may, I think as we all heed and wisely heed the call of Senator Sanders, we should also consider what we might do in our local communities. If you'd indulge me, I remember one year when Ramadan coincided with Yom Kippur on the calendar. Senator Sanders, it happened to overlap about a few years back. And so Imam Makram El Amin, dear friend of mine and yours, and Rabbi Marsha Zimmerman, who is the leader of the largest synagogue in Minneapolis, said, let's get the congregations together and we broke fast together. About 80 people said they were coming, but about 120 showed up. And the Imam and the Rabbi said, this is a good problem. And as you know, when the Muslims and the Jews were getting together to break fast, the Christians said, hey, we want to see this. So we had a multi-faith group and we went down there and we did it, weren't enough chairs and there weren't even enough meals. But we were together and we shared this important time. And I think that's something that people all across America should do, reach out in your local community. Thank you. And as our congressman just mentioned, I did serve in the United States Air Force 30 years of active duty, very proud of that. And I'd like to also say that it's a part of my family, my children. We've affected the lives of six, two Air Force, two Marines, and one Army. Right now, as we're speaking. And certainly after having spent 30 years, that would tell you that I joined in the 70s and it wasn't popular at that time. It wasn't a lot of accommodations. But again, because of the Constitution protecting the rights, religious liberty and freedom, they began to make accommodations. We were one of the ones that pioneered. We didn't have any chaplains. It was difficult at the time. For Ramadan, you know, 30 days of fasting. And eventually, we had some milestones that we eventually achieved in 1993. Our first Islamic chaplain for all of the armed forces. And he's at the table with us today. First, Senator Sanders, thank you very much for your comments. I think your words resonate, not only through this community in terms of the values that we hold in terms of what our religion espouses to, but also as a representative of the United States Senator. We are very pleased to hear from you these types of words. One of the concerns I think that as a religious leader, and I think I can loosely speak for most of us, if not all of us, that concerns us is not so much of the individual opinions of bigotry, but when those opinions become platforms, when they become a way of thinking throughout communities, then we become extremely concerned about that. The social and the economic concerns that could come about as a result of this type of thinking, of espousing or putting dispersions of negativity upon a group of people, an entire group of people, for the misgivings of a few. We've seen this many times before in history. And you think, as it was said recently, if we haven't learned from it, that we're perhaps doomed, all of us, not just Muslims, but all American citizens are doomed. So I thank you for taking the lead from our government yourself, Congressman Ellison, Congressman Carson, and many others being outspoken on our behalf as American citizens. As Imam Sharif said, I served for 22 years in our armed forces. I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and I make no apologies for my service to this country. And I will go in any mosque, any synagogue, in any church and say exactly the same thing. I don't expect that we will always agree on everything, but I do expect that we will come away with a level of tolerance and respect for the way God created all of us at the end of the day, that we all deserve that. And differences of opinion is what makes this nation great. And so I thank you and Congressman Ellison for being here with us today and representing us so well at the level of government that we so desperately need. Thank you. So we are just one of many in terms of who have served this country. Really, Muslims have been in this country serving even before it was a country. In fact, the location that you're in right now, Senator, is actually a leader. Imam W. Dean Mohammed picked up the American flag, literally physically picking it up, not just in words, but picked it up and said that if you all won't pick it up, I will. He's called America's Imam. First one to pick it up and now we know many have engaged and embraced that identity. He said we have an obligation to support, defend and protect our society. And from that, we also have in this room the commander of the Muslim American Veterans Association that was started a year before we brought him in, was able to get him on as the first chaplain, which we have many, many now. And also in the room we have Command Sergeant Major, who's just retired. He's a member of the board here. He's in this room right over here as well. Just spent 32 years, longest serving, active for the whole time. Yes. Commanded more than one-fifth of the army. Had the highest position for Muslim as an enlisted in the armed forces for us. We are very pleased with that. And he mentioned earlier the religious bigotry. But he would have with us right now one of our Christian brothers. We're very close. We thank him. He's been here many times speaking. He is one of the original freedom riders. And we know what that means. He's been through a lot. So, sir, if you want to have him make some comments as well. Senator, let me thank you as well at my voice to the many of us gathered here. As an appreciation for your tenacity, for your courage to stand up and speak as it often is referred to truth to power. The other thing is I'm just pleased to be in this sacred space at this sacred hour. To share the meaning of diversity and what immigration really is all about. How important it's been for this country in its evolution to become what it has become. Always evolving, always trying to get better, always trying to live out the truth. Has evolved from challenges after challenges to bring us to this point. And yet, having witnessed all that we've come through as a nation, we would be at this point in time where bigotry is rearing up its ugly head again. And we cannot afford to out of ignorance let our lives be governed by the ignorance espoused. Let me also speak from the context of my pastoral role. This is the city I grew up in. My two classmates sits over there. My high school classmates are Oliver Cromwell and his wife, Yutha, who are dear friends of mine. We were then high school together. We remember the days when I grown up in Southwest could not even go to some of the junior high or high schools in the district because all of that preceded the Brown versus Board of Education decision. And I tell the story how in junior high school we would have these little singer groups. That's how African Americans entertain themselves. And the first tenor in a group I had in junior high school was a fellow named Marvin Gaye. I thought I'd add that in. But to be here at this table and to watch, I'm always impressed, Representative Ellison, with your work in the Congress tonight. Thank you for your work. I want to thank those who come out to be a part of this, to sit alongside these two religious leaders. And I say religious though understanding we are called to be more spiritual than religious. We are at a juncture in this time period where we must recall that the struggle of America has been about liberation. And if we lose that, then no matter where this election goes, we are really in trouble as a nation. And to demagogue and make one people an issue of this campaign is ludicrous, it's sinful, and it's egregious. And today, we sit here today together saying that let us all walk together in a negro spiritual and not get weary. For there's a great camp meeting at the promised land. Thank you so much for being here. Senator, we want to give you a chance to weigh in on anything at this point before we go to hear from our Rabbi. I'm doing just fine. And we do a lot of things together in the way of interfaith. This is my sister, Rabbi Betia Stanloff. In fact, we're in some audiences that the labels, they just go away. Because we're dealing with human issues, things that are common to our nature as humans, which is first. So we want to give her an opportunity to make some comments. Thank you. I'm grateful for this opportunity to be back at Masjid Muhammad and to express my appreciation for everyone seated at this table and for everyone in this room. No one knows better than, no community knows better than the Jewish community, the danger of hateful speech and the danger of identifying an other and finding someone to scapegoat. And as we are all part of God's creation, we need to come together and cherish that creation because that is what God has asked us to do. And it's very hard to find a forum for people to get together and say everybody's getting along great. It's very easy to take a microphone and say who's the enemy. But it's hard to get somebody to say, look, we're all together again and we're all enjoying each other's company and learning to make the world a better place together. And I'm very privileged through my work to spend so much time with so many people in this room and to work together to build America as a country where we can all cherish who we are and cherish who we are together. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Again, we know that one of our motos for this great nation is E Pluribus Uno. That says many, from many one. But we can reverse that and we can say from one many. And that connects us back to our first life and our common life as humans. We're human firsts and when the first human was here and we said it in the plural because we know everyone was comes from a male and a female. If there's someone that don't have that composition, we'd like to know about that person. But we know the firsts. We say Adam and we know that's a common, but we know all the other faiths. They may use another title, another name. But from Adam, he was given an identity and that identity was not a racial identity. It was not an ethnic identity. It was not a national identity, but as our first identity, to give it to him about the one who created him and him being the first, it was human. If that is our first, that should be our most important identity. And from him comes these many wonderful, beautiful expressions that we see of human life from the human family of Adam. They've all have contributed to making this a great and beautiful nation, this diversity that we have. And we say in our pledge, one nation, under God. So that says our nation, as we know it is very founding, we recognize, we acknowledge the Creator. We are at a table with people of faith, under God, indivisible. It shouldn't be divided with liberty and justice, not just us, but just do right by us, all of us. Do the right thing by all of the citizens that have contributed to making it as great as it is. And we're just only a small, small fraction of the diversity. We're just so grateful to the Senator for being of those who take this stand to come here. This is unprecedented to have this happen, to come to Amos, particularly here, and make this statement from this location. Senator, we're very grateful when we want to turn it back over to you. Well, let me just maybe conclude by saying this. All of us are proud that we live in a democracy. And the democracy people have different points of view. We learn from each other, we argue with each other. That's what democracy is about. But as you have heard this afternoon, this country has struggled for centuries. We have struggled for centuries and brave and courageous people whose names we do not even know, who stood up and said, we are all human beings. It doesn't matter the color of your skin, it doesn't matter your religion. We are all human beings. We have the same needs, the same loves, the same hopes, aspirations. We have kids who we want a great future for. And we will not allow people to divide us up because you're Jewish and you're Muslim and you're Christian and maybe Catholic. We're not going to allow that to happen. And that's where we are today. We are not going back. We are not going back. We have suffered too much. There's been too much division. We are going forward. And as a people, we are going to address the very serious problems that we face. And we are not going to allow them to divide us up. And that's what today is about. And thank you so much.