Obama on Mosque Visit: America Needs to 'Lift Up' Muslim Community

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD – President Barack Obama made his first visit as President to a mosque on U.S. soil Wednesday.

Obama said he heard from Muslim Americans ranging from students to soldiers to scientists during a private roundtable discussion in Baltimore County before delivering remarks.

“In Muslim communities across our country, this is a time of concern and frankly a time of some fear,” Obama said.

Related: Obama Visiting U.S. Mosque For First Time in Presidency

“Here at this mosque, twice last year threats were made against your children,” Obama said at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, which also contains a school. “Around the country, women wearing the hijab...have been targeted. We’ve seen children bullied, we’ve seen mosques vandalized.”

His visit to the mosque was intended to affirm the right to religious freedom and recognize the contributions Muslim Americans make to American society.

“Since 9/11 but more recently since the attacks in Paris and San Bernadino, you’ve seen too often people conflating the horrific acts of terrorism with the beliefs of an entire faith,” Obama said. “And, of course, recently we’ve heard inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim Americans that has no place in our country.”

He said he couldn’t help but being “heartbroken” upon hearing from parents whose children asked if they would be “rounded up” and moved out of the country, “conversations that you shouldn’t have to have with children, not in this country, not in this moment.”

For those tuning into Obama’s remarks online who may have never been to a mosque, he said it was “very familiar“—a building where people come together to worship, to vote and to learn.

He described Muslim Americans as neighbors, teachers, doctors, Nobel Prize winners, entrepreneurs and sports heroes, naming Ibtihaj Muhammad of the USA Fencing Team, who will be the first Olympian to wear her hijab while competing and who was in the audience.

“Muslim Americans are some of the most resilient and patriotic Americans you’ll ever meet,” Obama said. ”...they fight and bleed and die for our freedom. Some rest in Arlington National Cemetery.” There were several service members in the audience, the President said.

Despite their contributions, Obama reported Muslim Americans told him they felt “invisible,” to which he responded: “The first thing I want to say is two words that Muslim Americans don’t hear often enough, and that is thank you,” as he began his approximately 40-minute talk.

“Thank you for serving your community. Thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors and for helping keep us strong and united as one American family,” Obama said.

The mosque helped Baltimoreans after the riots in April, according to Obama. The health clinic it operates is open to people all faiths. He said some mosque members worked for social justice.

“...part of what we have to do is to lift up the contributions of the Muslim American community, not when there’s a problem but all the time,” Obama said.

He called for the media to put a spotlight on Muslim Americans outside of violent news.

“Our television shows should have some Muslim characters that are unrelated to national security...” He noted there was a time when black people were not on television. “You can tell good stories while still representing the reality of our communities,” he said.

Emphatically he said that it was the duty of all Americans to stand up for peace.

“We have to be consistent in condemning hateful rhetoric and violence against everyone, and that includes against Muslims here in the United States of America,” Obama said. “None of us can be silent. We can’t be bystanders to bigotry. Together we’ve got to show that America truly protects all faiths.”

He continued: “We are one American family. We will rise and fall together.”

Said Obama: “At a time when others are trying to divide us along lines of religion or sect, we have to reaffirm that most fundamental of truths. We are all God’s children.”