so here s my message for the folks at lowe s who made the decision, frankly anyone out there of sound mind considering getting behind the growing anti-muslim bias. you re better than this. you know the history of this country and of this world never, ever looks kindly on this kind of marginalization you endorsed with your actions. whether it was against irish-americans or jewish-americans or african-americans, the historybooks make sure this exclusionary politics becomes a stain on the reputation of anyone who takes part in it. that was congressman chris murray calling out home improvement retail chain lowe s on the house floor today? . why? the company pulled its ads from a show called all american muslim, the reality show airing on tlc. it follows five muslim families living in dearborn, michigan. take a look. the city of dearborn, michigan. dearborn is a whole other world.
waited too long. he was told early on that this was a problem. it was a pattern that started developing in texas. do you think he was slow to the punch? i think he was slow to the punch. i think he was slow to the punch. the problem is this. you have a concerted effort that started with 30 republican governors elected and they re on the same sheet of music. that s the key. they re working in unison on this. mike papantonio. i appreciate it. next up, the fallout continues over lowe s pulling ads from the show all american muslim. the mayor of dearborn, michigan, jack o reilly will join me in a moment. the protester is named time magazine s person of the year. jesse lagreca will take a victory lap on this one. everyone believes in keeping their promises once a year. but we believe in helping people take steps to keep them every single day.
five muslim families that are not representative of the entire muslim faith. muslim is defined in all the dictionaries as those who follow islam. and i beg anybody to find an imam in any mosque in this country that believes that sharia should not apply to the people in america. let s turn to dearborn, michigan, mayor, jack o reilly. mr. o reilly, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. how emotional is this subject in your community and what s the community reaction? well, since it s a continuum of an onslaught that s been going on for some time, we re beginning to, you know, take it in stride in the sense that we understand there are these people out there who are just putting out, and it s been said already, propaganda. things that are to create fear, and then the fear is to get their emotions aroused. it concerns us greatly, but it s
becoming something of a fixture in the fabric of our country. dearborn has the highest population of muslims in america. what does this group in florida not know about the members of your community? well, first of all, it isn t the highest number. it s the largest concentration. actually just in detroit area, alone, we have about 34,000 muslims in dearborn, or 35,000, actually, arab americans, not all muslims, quite honestly, and that s only 10% of the total number that are in just southeast michigan, in the detroit area. so it s really that we have multigenerational. we have been the home of mosques and muslims for a long time. much longer than many other communities. do you believe the show gives an accurate portrayal of muslim-americans in dearborn, michigan? not necessarily in the breadth of it. what it really does is portray
being in dearborn has allowed us to practice our faith without losing our sense of american patriotism. so why would lowe s pull ads from a show like that? because one right wing group told it to? lowe s and scores of other companies had been the target of a campaign by the florida family association. the group claims the show is problem began do that riskly hides the islamic agenda s clear and present danger to american liberties and traditional values. so what we have here is a major american company, lowe s, caving to bigotry. the florida family association, you might think, must be a pretty large and influential group to be able to pull off a stunt like this. well, according to think progress, the group has only one paid staff member. its president. and he s a real winner. well, the show portrays these five muslim families that are