Politics & Government

Ellison: Being Muslim 'Just an Aspect of Who I Am'

St. Louis Park's congressional representative spoke to CNN about his faith.

CNN's Belief Blog had a long article and video Thursday about Rep. Keith Ellison's Muslim faith.

Ellison (D-MN) was the first Muslim elected into Congress when he won Minnesota's fifth district seat in 2006. At the time, he said he was surprised that his faith was discussed so much.

“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, who is now serving his third term in the House.

Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor—this might be a news story.’”

Last week, Minnesota-based political blog Power Line posed a series of questions to Ellison about his religious faith:

Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ellison’s public career raises basic questions that haven’t been asked by the media or answered by Ellison. Here are a few that come to mind:

1. You say you converted to Islam as a college student in Detroit, yet your first published articles as a law student at the University of Minnesota were written under the pseudonym “Keith Hakim” from the perspective of a follower of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. When did you convert to Islam? At what mosque did you worship?

The post goes on to ask another half-dozen questions, inspired by an New York Times article, "Asking Candidates Tougher Questions About Faith."

Ellison Writes to President About Jobs

On Thursday, Ellison and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote President Barack Obama, encouraging him to include large-scale jobs programs when he talks to a joint session of Congress next week.

We are pleased you will be addressing a joint session of Congress next week to outline your much-anticipated jobs package. We encourage you to include in that package large-scale programs that will significantly reduce unemployment and our deficit. Specifically, we urge you to support emergency jobs legislation that will immediately put Americans back to work. With 14 million Americans still looking for work, this is not the time to tinker around the edges. We must take bold action, and that requires federal emergency jobs legislation.

 Washington needs to invest in the country’s future by enacting significant emergency jobs legislation to put Americans back to work now. There is no shortage of work to be done in America, and no shortage of workers to do it. Young Americans in particular are facing a bleak economic reality. Many of them have mountains of college debt and no prospects for employment. We are squandering the talent, energy and hopes of a generation. We urge the Administration to make a good American job a reality for every young person.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here