Purpose of serving Muslim Community in ross, north dakota in 1929. And then in 1929. In american and today america is home to one of the most diversed population in the world including and then engineered and nurses and taxi drivers and lawyers and it professionals and the media personnel to include many muslim and then every war in the United States and then its part of the American Life. My brothers and then the result in the highest engagement and then support of the value and then the americas there are mosque in the United States today and theyre your friendly neighbors and to help. The attorney general and then the attorney skbren thank you so much and then its all of the americans and god bless you and god bless america. The Board Members and mr. Sahal and then the Board Members of adams and then mr. Board member as well. We thank them for the leadership and sister and the board member of the association. And then from the office to stand and we want to thank you for the leadership. And you have heard the remarks and then the civil rights and standing up for the country and we like [ applause ] then dubbed by Time Magazine and then i give you. Other guests and members and the trend of the Muslim Community and for standing with our community. As we heard the pledge of allegiance its that were one nation under god in diversable with liberty and justice for all. Where the mosque sign was vandalized and then it was pushed from the services and muslim and then and then all of the god given life and then its for that reason thats now in egypt and why American Leadership has 2 honor of being involved in the declaration and be involved in the muslim countries. The biggest liberty is the god all might ti and then anywhere should be and then any government for practicing any religion the way that they see fit. Government is just against anyone thats on his or her religion and then its republican and the protecting the rights and the religious expression and whether we agree with that or not was not the right issue or left issue. As an american and i want to express my sin ter sir appreciation and then the religion and those before you and those that come after is my firm belief and my really fel low religious leader and your present and then to receive and then its for all human kind and may god bless and may god bless all of you and god bless the United States for all of the days and years to come. Its bob and Senior Pastor inventor and then from the great state of o texas. Dont mess with texas. Its it breaks my heart and i am here because i am a christian. And then thats more prejudice and then in america and thats why im here today as a Southern Baptist that i love you and care about you and i support the right of religious freedom. Its to us and im afraid and tribalism and theyre afraid to speak out and say what the truth is. They dont want to be rejected of their own. Its freedom of religion and human rights in general and then we have the courage to stand up and say that were in trouble. I fear if we want america to be great, america will not be great unless america does right. Thats what makes us great. And dont approach it with fear but with courage and not isolation and approach it with enjoyment knowing that the whole world is present and today whatever the ideas are and we can he says here is what i can do. I can control what i say and i can control what i do. Its the current and finding herself and then its to the immigrants and muslims and if its going to change im sorry to say that its going to change because every day americans are going say that we dont want to live like this anymore. Thats why im here at my own expense so that muhammad knows that i love you. I am passionately believing in religious freedom. If you dont have the right to choice that, you have no freedom at all. Its up toous. What are we going to do and stand up for one another . Martin luther king day is coming. Like many of the congregation and then its diversified and then its Martin Luther king day and so on sunday morning our Worship Service will not be just black and white, but it will be muslim and christian and its all served by a lot of texas enlarge for those that love that. We believe that we can be passionate about the faith. Im passionate about the faith and being passionate also means that we have the right to practice your faith. I call upon my fellow and then i call on building relationships with the nation and get to know them. It matters and its time for them to stand up. [ applause ] thank you for the leadership and partnership and around the world and then advocate for the religious freedom and the partnership and then thats cohosted and then we do an annual and then i give you the honorable rabbi. [ applause ] i am very sorry to be here for the occasion and then because of what is happening and then its representing the historic and then its the faith and derived from the property and then thats the east and then and then we call on people of every faith and of no faith of bigotry of the days and then its the neighbors and then its the regard and this hatred thats emerged recently does nothing to make us safer on the contrary it has three dangerous affects and first bigotry repute appreciates American Values where the soldiers have begin their lives. Second the hate crimes and hateful comments and bullying give comfort and support to those that attack the American Values. When they are directed at the muslim and then our country is the enemy and billions of muslims and peace loving muslims world wide and then its other countries may destroy americas opportunity to stand and then thats the contribution and then thats unique and then George Washington wrote happily to the United States and gives to bigotry and then thats required only that they will live under the protection and should report themselves as good citizen and given it all of the occasions t support. When president washington wrote those words to a jewish congregation in newport, rhode island, in the end of the 18th century, he included the words of the prophets isaiah and micah at the end. Everyone shall sit in safety under his vine or under her fig tree and there shall be none to make them afraid. Within our washington area, there can be no doubt of the good citizenship of all of our beloved religious and ethnic communities, nor of their commitment in serving this country and protecting it from enmees foreign and domestic. Furthermore, our houses of worship with this Adams Center Mosque in particular stand out as shining examples of support for the most vulnerable neighbors in this community, particularly the Free Health Clinics and all of the support that it does for the poor and vulnerable in the state of virginia, and that is true of their sister communities, the sister mosques, their sister synagogues and their sister churches. We call on public officials, media personalities and all of our fellow citizens to repent of their hatred and their ignorance, which threatens us from within, at a time when we face clear and present dangers from the enemies who hate our freedom, and our values of freedom of religion, and our values of welcome for those fleeing oppression. I would just pastor bob always inspires me and i just want to say, from my perspective as a rabbi and a member of the jewish community, and im not speaking just for myself. Ive heard my fellow rabbis and jews, men and women, who have said that if god forbid, god forbid this country moves to something that registers citizens by their religion or senator in, we will be in the front of the line, if they asked muslims to register, we will be there. I will be there. My brothers and sisters will be there. We will not allow this to happen. It happened to us in other countries, its not going to happen in this country without the support, without the identification of those in my community and other religious communities with those of you who are part of the Muslim Community. Thank you. Thank you for being, thank you for adams for being adams. [ applause ] thank you so much, rabbi jerry for your leadership of leading all faith in this area for interfaith harmony. I introduce pastor michelle commis, president of the Freedom Center uplifting africanamerican history in loudoun country and inspiring all people around the country. I give you pastor michelle thomas. [ applause ] the most pressing issue of our time in america is not, is not climate change. Its not climate change. It is not the economy. It is not issues that we think normally is related to people. It is really the issue of race. Its really the issue of injustice, and its not garnered, its not monopolized by africanamericans. Africanamericans dont own the uptick of racism, of violence, of tragedies thats facing our country. It is owned by those people that look just like you and me. We dont deserve it. We stand against it. Ive learned a lot by being open to the adams center. I founded a Freedom Center where i thought that i was going to specialize in africanamerican history in loudoun county, only to find out that africanamerican history is not set apart from muslim history, that we are literally one, that, when people were brought here from africa and enslaved, 30 of them were muslims, and so as our Freedom Foundation seeks to reclaim those parts of our history, and reclaim slave cemeteries or cemeteries of the enslaved countywide, i can no longer do that in good conscience, thinking that im just paying homage to africanamericans. We are one. We are united. We must stand together. There is no tolerance for what is going on in america. We can take back the power. Unity takes back the power of hate. [ applause ] hate is an issue of National Security. This thing called justice or injustice attorney mark carron, is an issue of National Security, and should be taken seriously, should be taken seriously, not just by the communities that are affronted but those communities that love freedom. We must stand together, we must speak loudly together, we must educate our children together. We must worship and pray to our god together, and we must move this country Forward Together in jesus name. [ applause ] thank you so much, pastor michelle, for your leadership and your inspiration. We are truly honored. Im now honored to introduce dr. Singh, founder and chairman of the sikh council on education and we appreciate his leadership. I give you dr. Singh. [ applause ] the way he introduces somebody creates such excitement. Thanks so much for his leadership. Hes just a wonderful pillar of the interfaith relations in the washington area. Honorable attorney general, we are really blessed with your presence here today, your predecessor and yourself have led the department of justice in the new direction of providing strength and support and embrace to so many of us, people of all different religions, especially the muslim, the Sikh Community, the Hindu Community, and especially the tracking of the hate crimes, which was introduced under Obama Administration, the department of justice, so we are very thankful and the Sikh Community has been here for the last 100 years, and a lot of americans have still not discovered us yet, and when i go out in the street, most of the americans think im a muslim, and i happen to be identified that way, especially now, when there will be a muslim registry, as the talk is being made. We will be proud to call ourselves muslims if theres that juncture comes to the United States. [ applause ] even if it means that there will be more turban wearing sikhs, so be it. So our faith, the sikh faith started 500 years ago, the founder of the faith traveled for 37 years, and you know who he chose to take him along with him . It was a muslim guy, who was a musician and these two guys traveled all around for 37 years, preaching the message of love and mutual respect, and that is what are the symbolism that i carry with this turban, that stands for justice, human rights, and peace and harmony, and today i chose to, like my friend is wearing a red color, preparing for the holiday season, and i chose the color which symbolizes spring, that even though we have just been hit by a storm in the United States, but believe me, we are all going to work for bringing us spring in the United States. [ applause ] and there is another important point, theres a beautiful story, the founder of the faith went to a city, outside of the city, and people of the village all the learned elders sent him a bowl filled with milk to the brim, saying that we dont need you anymore, because we have enough learned people, we have enough scholars and all the teachers are here in this town. We dont need another one. And you know he got the message and he sent back this bowl of milk and he put a little pebble of flour on top of it, and the message was that we are not here to take any space. We are here to create, and each immigrant who comes here with the hope to raise his or her family is really here to create and strengthen america. We have done it for the last 100 years, we have done it for the last 200 years. Americas journey is sikh journey, is a muslim juourney, its buddhist nation. All people have come together to build this nation. Our message is what i would like to repeat is what is written in our scripture is [ speaking in Foreign Language ] that we all, each one of us has a divine light which has been blessed, which has been given to us as a gift by our creator, and we are here to shine that light each day, every moment of our life. [ speaking in Foreign Language ]. So may god bless each one of us, and we all need to strengthen each other, we should be praying for muslims, muslims should be pl praying for hindus, hindus praying for jews. Thats whats going to make us much stronger and big enough for all times to come and especially we must create a safe space for our children. I was in sacramento about a month ago and a sikh woman, a sikh mother came to me and she said this is a sixth grader and the child doesnt even wear a turban, and the sixth grader was told by his closest friend that im sorry, we are not going to be friend anymore, because after election, you will be leaving. Just imagine the kind of fear that is being created for the children, and not just for the sikh children, for all children. Our county Montgomery County which is the most diverse county in the high school, there have been three swastika painted in the last one month, so that is an atmosphere which cannot be tolerated. We have to create safe spaces for our children, and because that is what the future is, were all going to be gone in 30, 40, years. Most of us will not be here but those children who are now will be raised under a very fearful environment, that is what i am very much worried about and that is what we need to be making sure that we dont leave that legacy for our future generations. May god bless you all and may god bless all the soldiers of the department of justice and fbi who have really worked hard day and night to protect all of us. Thank you so much. [ applause ] thank you so much, dr. Singh. Appreciate your leadership and partnership. Ill ask mr. Gutit up here. Because of scheduling im going to ask the other leaders to please stand and be recognized, from the buddhist community, from the Hindu Community and from the baha community. Please stand and thank you again for your leadership. [ applause ] and i also would like to ask dr. Salam to please stand, the chaplain here and a member of the u. S. Air force. Thank you for your service. Im now honored to introduce sister shafik, board member of the Muslim Society to introduce the attorney general of the United States of america. I introduce miss yasmin shavik. Good morning. I think its still morning, right . Okay. I was trying to come up with some kind of analogy for me following. I couldnt. Its too silly. I didnt get hurt at all, so its funny. All right [ speaking in Foreign Language ]. My name is yasmin shafik, i have the honor of welcoming our attorney general to the podium in a moment. I am someone who grew up in this very Muslim Community, this very American Community that we call the adams center. I learned to be an outspoken and confident sometimes klutzy female leader here, and for the past five years ive had the opportunity to serve on the organizations board. Growing up here in america, and at adams, ive both observed and experienced the growth and the development of the muslimAmerican Community and i must say, it is strange times. Strange times that are worthy of special attention. See, i grew up here learning a faith informed by love, compassion, and inclusion. My faith informs all that i do, and it informs why im such a patriotic american. So its really painful to be faced with a false narrative by those who wish to undermine who i am, who we are. I imagine you, attorney general lynch, have faced similar challenges in your decorated legal career. You are the first female africanamerican u. S. Attorney general. You fought public corruption in new york city. You fought for our civil rights. You even worked pro bono for the International Criminal tribunal for rwanda to prosecute those responsible for egregious human rights violations. You are a champion, a superhero, if you will, maybe without the cape. Im hopeful that you will continue to work for justice for a very long time to come, and even after leaving your post, because we need you and people just like you, to do the kind of work that you do. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the u. S. Attorney general, miss loretta lynch. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you all. Thank you all. Thank you so much for that warm welcome. Thank you for coming here today. Let me also say [ speaking in Foreign Language ] to everyone here today. Yasmin, thank you so much for that warm introduction. You mentioned that you did not have an analogy for our little excitement on stage, but i actually think you do, because yasmin, when you fell, everyone came to help, and that is the story that we have to tell today. [ applause ] when one of us falls, we all have to step up, without regard for our own safety, without knowing what lay behind that curtain. Everyone went to help. When one of us is threatened, we all have to speak out regardless of the discomfort it may call upon us, when one of us is in harms way, were all in harms way and that is the story of todayese event and yasmin, i want to thank you for illustrating that for us today. [ applause ] i could sit down now, but being of a long line of baptist ministers, you know that i wont, but let me thank all of the faith leaders, all of the community leaders, all of the members of this beautiful mosque, who have come together and welcomed me, so beautifully this morning and can we also once again just have another hand for all of our children who did so well this morning. [ applause ] theyre the reason that were here. Theyre the reason that we do this work, and for all of you parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles, the work and practice paid off and they are beautiful and they represented you so well. I want to thank all the inspiring faith leaders who spoke before me, for their moving words, but most importantly for their commitment, for their recognition that the god that we all share does not see a difference when he looks at us. He just sees his children, and when we hurt, he hurts, and as we saw before, when one of us is hurt, we all have to step in, so let me thank all of you, the faith leaders, the community leaders, the activists who are here, the advocates who are here, for everything that you do all day, every day, to strengthen, to empower all of our communities. Thank you so much. [ applause ] im tremendously honored to be here today in this space and most importantly in front of this audience. Because were all here today in this mosque as men and women of all races, all creeds, all colors. Some of us were born in the United States, our immigration status having been resolved, some generations ago, but immigrants nonetheless, and some of us came here more recently in search of a better life. We may speak different languages, we may read from different books of scripture, we may call our god by different names, but we all love this country. We all love the ideals for which it stands, and were all committed to upholding them. We all want our children to lead lives of safety and opportunity, and we all proudly claim the title of american, and as justice grandeis proclaimed we all bear the most important Political Office there is, that of private citizen. That is our strength. That is our bond. We are all together in this. And here today, i see a living expression of the american promise, a living picture of america, the conviction that every persons dignity is inherent and is equal. Now, we know that that promise is as old as our nation itself, 240 years ago two centuries and two score years our forethe fores boldly proclaimed that all men are kraecreated equal and o course when those words were written, they had a ways to go, because there was a gap between americas founding ideals and americas founding reality, because the very hand that put those words on parchment had also signed deeds for the sale and purchase of other human beings, and for many of our ancestors, women, for africanamericans, for native americans, for all immigrants and countless others, the promise of American Life rang hollow for far too long, but those words clear and plain as they were, were too powerful, they were too selfevident in jeffersons words, for that state of affairs to endure, because generation after generation of americans heard that promise. They read those words. They took them to heart, and they demanded that they be fulfilled, and they stood up, women who endured ridicule and condescension just for seeking the right to vote. Africanamericans turning home to a nation that would not let them vote and sometimes even repaid their service with violence. The marchers who braved the jaws of police dogs in birmingham, and the cattle prolducts at selma, the lgbt individuals who fought for their simple rights at stonewall inn, all of these are examples of courage and determination, of these individuals and countless others who have come before us, but we this is illustrate the great truth that every generation must keep this battle anew. Every generation must push this country ever forward to fulfill those promises. Now, we have built a society that is so much further along, thats so much more fully reflects our founding creeds of liberty and justice for all. But our work is not finished. We have been challenged on these and so many other fronts, as we are all aware, this work is never finished. Now, as weve talked about, just last month the fbi released its statistics on the number of hate crimes committed in 2015. Thats not even this year, and already we see the disturbing trend, the sobering indication of how much more work remains to be done, now overall, the number of reported hate crimes increased 6 from 2014, and that figure includes increases in hate crimes committed against jewishamericans, africanamericans, lgbt americans, but perhaps most troublingly of all, it showed a 67 increase in hate crimes committed against muslimamericans. This is the highest total of antimuslim incidents since 2001, when 9 11 itself spurred so many reprehensible acts, and we know that there are many more hate crimes in communities in all communities across this country that go unreported. And what we also know is that its easy to talk about the numbers and the statistics and the reports is out, but behind every number is a person. Behind every statistic is someone whose rights have been violated, behind the pages of the reports, like communities who are now more afraid than before and more afraid than any american should ever feel, and all of us have seen the recent flurry of news reports about hate crimes and harassment. We have seen the stories where hijabs have been yanked off of womens heads, literally off of womens heads to the swastikas that are sprayed on the sides of synagogues to the slurs and the epithets that are hurled in classrooms, the story that was told about the young boy who was told he would no longer have a friend or a place in this country. Thats whats behind all of those numbers, and i say to you again, when one of us is threatened, all of us are threatened. When one of us falls, we all have to help. That is our obligation, that is our commitment. Thats the pledge weve all made as citizens, and the department of justice is working on these issues. Our fbi is working with local authorities to review multiple incidents. Our agents and prosecutors are working to assess whether their cases constitute violations of federal law, but we will provide our support nonetheless. Because these statistics, these numbers and more importantly the people behind them should be of concern to every american regardless of faith, regardless of background, regardless of whether you are involved or not, because hate crimes target more than just the individual at that time, they target the fabric of our communities. They also stain our dearest ideals, they stain our nations very soul. There is a thread, it is pernicious, but it is strong. There is a thread that connects the act of violence against a woman wearing a hijab to the assault on the transgender man, to the tragic deaths of nine innocent africanamericans during bible study at mother emmanuel in charleston. There is a thread that links all of those, and when one of us is threatened, all of us are threatened. When one of us falls, we all must step in. As president obama has said, it is the moment that we fail to see in another our common humanity, the very moment when we fail to recognize in a person the same hopes and fears, the same passions and imperfections, the same dreams that we all share. Thats the moment that we see, thats whats illustrated by this thread that runs through all of these issues, and the reason why we have so many people here today, such a beautiful crosssection of this wonderful community, leaders from so many different faiths, people who work in so many different areas, is because we all believe so deeply in certain common values regardless of our faith, regardless of how we denominate that faith, what we call ourselves, we all believe that we must treat others as we would wish to be treated. Regardless of the name of our denomination or our faith, we believe that every individual is precious, regardless of the title over the church or synagogue or mosque or house of worship that we attend, we believe in our common humanity, and we all believe that in the words of Martin Luther king jr. , in justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And thats why the department of justice, which i am so proud to lead, and the entire Obama Administration regards hate dri crimes with the utmost serious seriousliness whether they target individuals because of their race, their religion, their gender or their sexual orientation, and that is why we have worked so tirelessly over the last several years to bring those who perpetrate these heinous deeds to justice. That is our function, but we look beyond just the walls of our own building out into the community, because when one of us falls, we all must step up. Now a cornerstone of our work, of course, is investigating and prosecuting hate crimes against muslimamericans, as well as those perceived to be muslim. It was, of course, after 9 11 the first individual to be targeted in a perceived muslim attack was, in fact, a sikh individual in the southwest. Muslim americans, sikh americans, hindu americans, all practices of faith, you are our friends. You are our family members. The history of African Americans in this country is of course our history of muslimamericans. We have our neighbors, doctors, nurses, police officers, our firefighters, our business owners, our teachers, thousands of Muslim Americans have fought under the flag that we all pledged allegiance to today. [ applause ] thousands of them. 1 thousands have made the ultimate sacrifice to that flag, because when they pledged their allegiance to the republic, for which it stands, they knew that it might call on them to lay down their life and they did so for all of us, for all of us, and yet too often especially in this last year, especially following a number of tragic terrorist incidents and amidst an increase in some of the most divisive and fearful rhetoric we have seen in years, weve seen muslimamericans targeted, weve seen them demonized simply because of their faith, of their faith, of how People Choose to worship a loving and merciful god, and i have to say to you, it is clear, my friends, to invoke a blanket stereotype, to characterize any members of any faith because of the actions of some who pervert that faith is to take our nation backwards, is to go backwards in our thought, its to go backwards in our discourse, and in fact, it is to insult, it is to repudiate those who founded this great country. [ applause ] what is our first amendment, the very first one . It guaranties the freedom of religion in that first clause. Thats hey how we came to be and thats what we have to remember. And thats why the department of justice has moved to prosecute the actions that are demonstrated by this ignorance and by this fear and by this hatred. Thats why im blaesed benits gupta is here today. She leads the civil rights department, an Outstanding Group of dedicated professionals who have given most of their time, they work all day and well into the night defending the rights of every american. [ applause ] im also so pleased that my u. S. Attorney from eastern virginia is here because dana and so many other u. S. Attorneys work with the Civil Rights Division to defend the rights of all americans, but particularly where we are seeing this increase in hate crimes. The Civil Rights Division has recently convicted a connecticut man for firing a highpowered rifle at a mosque, shooting at a house of worship. How unamerican is that . We recently convicted a florida man for threatening to fire bomb two mosques, and to shoot their ko congregants. In missouri man and a North Carolina man sadly from my own home state who yelled at a young woman and tore off her hijab on an airplane, where she had every right to be, and in october, our National Security division, charged three men in connection with their plot to detonate bombs at an apartment complex in garden city, kansas, which included a mosque, where many members of the local somali immigrant Community Gather regularly to pray. Now these are just a few examples of the justice departments recent prosecutions, and while we are tremendously proud to do this work, and uphold these values, our greatest wish is that they had never occurred. That is, of course, what we have to work on. But there are so many other matters that we in Close Partnership with our state and local Law Enforcement partners are still investigating. One area that is of great importance to us is our work to protect the rights of religious communities to build houses of worship without unlawful interference or harassment, just the right to build a house of worship, a place to come together to pray, and to honor god, but unfortunately, that task of protecting this right has become more urgent in recent years, members of the Civil Rights Division have heard repeatedly about more overt discrimination in both the tone and the framing of objections to planned religious institutions especially mosques and islamic centers. Now our primary tool to combat such discrimination is a statute that weve used repeatedly, its called the religious land use and stalalized persons act, its called rlupa for short, and since september of 2010, just in the last six years, we have opened 50, 50 rlupa land use investigations. We have filed ten lawsuits involving land use, and we have filed eight amicus briefs and private parties rlupa cases to inform the courts about the laws provisions and its requirements, and in the last six years, 38 of the Civil Rights Divisions are lupa land use case, involved mosques or islamic schools. 38 . This is a dramatic increase in the percentage of those cases brought during the previous decade. Now, of course, we all know that religious institutions are not the only vulnerable spaces t