Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Speaks out for Kashmiris

by TMO Staff

During the last weekend of August, at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) annual convention in Houston, Bernie Sanders spoke at the gathering of about 6,000 attendees.

“We must speak out at hate crimes and violence targeted at the Muslim community and call it what it is: Domestic Terrorism,” he said.

Alongside Julian Castro, Sanders is the first presidential candidate to address the gathering. The ISNA convention is one of the largest Muslim gatherings in the country

The presidential candidate went on to talk about his personal family history. He shared that those in his family who remained in Poland were murdered by the Nazis. Clips from his speech at the event were posted to his Twitter page @BernieSanders as well as the twitter page @People4Bernie.

“As some of you may know the issue of hatred and prejudice is very personal for me,” he told those in attendance.

“And the lesson I learned from that experience is how important it is for all of us to speak out forcefully whenever we see prejudice and discrimination.”

Sanders’ campaign manager and the first Muslim to manage a major presidential campaign, Faiz Shakir, introduced him to speak at the convention.

Sanders greatly stressed injustice currently being faced by Kashmiris, the first presidential candidate to do so far.

“I’m deeply concerned about the situation,” he expressed in the video on his twitter that received comments of support as well as criticism.

“India’s action [in Kashmir] is unacceptable and the communications blockade must be lifted immediately, and the US government must be speak out boldly in support of international humanitarian live and in support of a UN backed peaceful resolution”