ST. PAUL, Minn. — Local Trump supporters plan to gather at the Minnesota Capitol on June 10 to rally against the introduction of Sharia Law in the state of Minnesota.
A group called Act for America, which describes itself as the “NRA of national security,” is the “nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots national security organization that focuses on educating, engaging, and mobilizing citizens and elected officials to impact legislative outcomes to protect America,” according to its website.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the group as an anti-Muslim group founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese Christian.
The National organization of Act for America will be holding marches nationwide on June 10, called “March Against Sharia.”
The organization describes the event, “This is a march against Sharia law and for human rights. Our nation is built on the freedom of religion — a pillar of our democracy — which we must always respect, protect, and honor. However many aspects of Sharia law run contrary to basic human rights and are completely incompatible with our laws and our democratic values.”
The local Minnesota chapter organizing the event states on its Facebook event page, “Sharia is incompatible with our Constitution and with American values. We stand against female genital mutilations and child marriages.”
Approximately 150 people have said that they will attend or have shown interest in the event on Facebook.
Local Minnesota groups who heard of the event making its way to the Twin Cities have formed a counter-protest event at the Capitol at the same time.
Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota, Young Muslim Collective, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, the Anti-War Committee, Filipinos for Immigrant Rights in Minnesota, Twin Cities IWW General Defense Committee Local 14, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the No More Deportation Campaign – Minnesota, have teamed up to provide a counter-protest against the event.
According to their Facebook event, “This rally is organized by a racist hate group and is meant to generate anti-Muslim bigotry – help show that the Twin Cities stands against this kind of racism by protesting this rally and coming together outside the Capitol on June 10th. Join us in showing support for our Muslim neighbors and opposing anti-Muslim bigotry outside the State Capitol at 11:00am. Together we can outnumber, drown out the racists, and rally as a progressive community to appreciate our religious, racial, and national diversity and oppose these kinds of anti-Muslim and racist actions in the future.”
Those attending the Act for America event seem as if they will be greatly outnumbered. More than 200 people have confirmed their attendance to the June 10 counter-protest on Facebook, while more than 1,100 individuals have said that they are interested in attending the event.
Several of the groups who have organized the counter-protest at the Capitol are responsible for the counter-protest events against the Pro-Trump rallies that were held in March and May at the Capitol, where several Trump supporters were hurt.
Preya Samsundar
Preya Samsundar was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities this Spring with a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology, with a minor in Strategic Communications. Preya has previously worked on several State Campaign Races.
