Houston: Islamic group hosts Sanders and Castro as rightwingers protest
Source: The Guardian
Houston: Islamic group hosts Sanders and Castro as rightwingers protest
Counter-protesters outnumber small group of far-right demonstrators as 2020 contenders speak inside convention
Patrick Strickland in Houston
Sat 31 Aug 2019 21.52 BST First published on Sat 31 Aug 2019 14.00 BST
In Houston on Saturday, an annual Islamic convention hosting presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Julian Castro braced for an armed far-right protest and a counter-demonstration.
The 56th Islamic Society of North America (Isna) convention was billed as one of the largest yearly events held by Muslim American advocacy groups. Castro and Sanders were slated to take the stage for one-on-one presidential forums. Organizers estimated around 30,000 would attend the three-day event.
We are really happy [Castro and Sanders] are coming in to address our community, Lubabah Abdullah, an Isna board member, told the Guardian. Weve recently realized the Muslim community has a strong voting bloc, if we do go out and register and actually show up to vote.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Muslim Americans in four key states Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia showed up to the ballot box at a rate of 25% higher than the 2014 midterms, according to a study by the advocacy group Emgage.
-snip-
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/31/houston-islamic-society-sanders-castro-far-right