Washington, DC – Today, ACT for America, the nation’s largest grassroots anti-Muslim hate group, announced a series of “America First” September 9th rallies intended to sow division, fear, and hate.  

“This is yet another attempt by ACT for America to normalize anti-Muslim bigotry,” said Madihha Ahussain, special counsel for anti-Muslim bigotry for Muslim Advocates. “Two months ago, their attempt to bring hate into communities across the nation only galvanized people to speak up for unity.”

This past June, ACT planned a similar series of anti-Muslim Ramadan rallies, many of which were outnumbered by counter unity events. In Lansing, Michigan, people turned out with buckets, sponges, and mops after the ACT rally to “wash away the hate.”  In Houston, different faith communities came together to host an interfaith service event and counter protest in defense of their Muslim friends and neighbors. New York’s counter-protest had 500 people, while others attended an iftar and interfaith dinner against hate and violence that evening.

ACT’s founder and current president Brigitte Gabriel has claimed that “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim” and called Muslims a “natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society.” In March, she attended a meeting at the White House and delivered a petition, commissioned by ACT, in favor of Trump’s Muslim ban.

Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths.

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