Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), provided the following statement:
“We condemn unequivocally President Trump’s distortion of the words of freshman congresswoman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) and use of 9/11 imagery to disparage her. These are dangerous times. Hate crimes have risen exponentially since 2016. Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray described the rise of white supremacist violence as a “persistent, pervasive threat” to our country. Not long after, a self-described Trump supporter was arrested for threatening to murder Rep. Omar, one of two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. The President’s use of incendiary footage to disparage Rep. Omar – just days later – exposes the congresswoman, her family, and her staff to threats and real danger.
“It is to our national shame that rather than use the enormous breadth of his power to condemn white supremacy and Islamophobia, President Trump uses his voice and platform to fan the flames of hatred. His targeting of Rep. Omar is unconscionable, irresponsible, and beneath the dignity of the office of the presidency. Every member of Congress should condemn the President’s actions.”
# # #
Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
