January 9, 2016

Donald Trump ejected a Muslim woman sitting silently in the audience wearing a turquoise hijab. She was not disrupting his rally; in fact, she was intentionally silent in order not to be accused of disruption.

Mashable reports:

Unlike other Trump protesters — which have become a fixture at his packed campaign events — [Rosa] Hamid did not yell or disrupt Trump's speech.

She told CNN she came to the event to show Trump supporters a peaceful image of a Muslim person she came to the event to show Trump supporters a peaceful image of a Muslim person, rather than the terrorists and militants portrayed on TV.

"This demonstrates how when you start dehumanizing the other it can turn people into very hateful, ugly people," Hamid told CNN. "It needs to be known."

According to Hamid, they were booing her and telling her to get out. One man shouted at her, "Do you have a bomb?"

Hamid demonstrated more compassion than any of them did. But the more important issue here concerns Hamid's rights to appear at in public in attire of her choice, whether to make a statement or not. If she chooses to wear her hijab in public, that is her choice, and wasn't causing anyone a problem except for the racist, xenophobic Trump supporters in the crowd.

Do we really want the next leader of the free world to tell people what they can and cannot wear in public, or what is acceptable speech?

Watch CNN's report below.

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