NEW YORK – About 1000 New Yorkers rallied in Times Square, dubbed as the Crossroads of the World on Sunday, to show solidarity with New York City’s Muslim community, protesting US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
“We are here today to show middle America our beautiful signs and, through our beautiful actions and intention, that they have been misled,” Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, co-host of the “Today, I Am A Muslim Too” rally, told protesters on a stage set up on the corner of 48th Street and Broadway, against the backdrop of an American flag.
“We are here unified because of Donald Trump,” Simmons said. “We want to thank him for bringing us together.”
Another of the event’s organizers, Imam Shamsi Ali, a prominent Muslim Scholar, said the rally was not just for the Muslim faith.
“This rally today is for America. Do you know why? Because any harm that happens to the Muslim community, which is an integral part of this nation, is harm to all Americans.”
Linda Sarsour, Director of the Arab American Association of New York, urged fellow residents to commit to never allowing history repeat itself.
Trump signed an executive order on January 27, temporarily banning all people from seven majority-Muslim countries and nearly all refugees from entering the United States.
The order has been put on hold as judges around the country have questioned its constitutionality.
Despite the legal challenges to the travel ban, Trump administration has promised a revised version as early as this week.
The protesters, holding signs including “I AM A MUSLIM TOO”, “We the people” and “Ban the wall not immigrants”, chanted “not my president” and “hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
“I’m an immigrant myself, I’m here to support the cause. My families are immigrants, I’m here to support all Muslims, every immigrant around in America,” Beatrize Ramirez, a white lady in her 20s, told Xinhua.
Savria Symist, who is black and also in her 20s, could agreed no more. “America is built on immigrants, we are all immigrants. My families are immigrants too. I feel that all these need to stop.”
“We want the whole world to know that America isn’t a country full of racist people,” Joe Ronson, a white Musician, said. “Still a lot of people are here to support each other, and to support what America is really about, that is more equality, tolerance, you know, (symbolized by )the statue of liberty.”
