Obama made his first ever presidential visit to a Mosque today, taking the opportunity to condemn Islamophobia and calling for interfaith unity. Of course, the visit was not without controversy, with critics of the president taking to Twitter to spout the usual conspiracy theories about him being a Muslim.
The speech took place during Obama’s visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore. He decried the recent surge in Islamophobia following the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, saying, “We’ve seen children bullied, we’ve seen mosques vandalized...It’s not who we are. We're one American family. And when any part of our family begins to feel separate or second class, it tears at the heart of our nation.”
Funnily enough, Obama even joked about the Obama-is-a-Muslim conspiracy theory, saying that he was not the only victim of such rumours.
“Thomas Jefferson's opponents tried to stir things up by suggesting he was a Muslim. So I was not the first,” he said. “No, it's true. Look it up. I'm in good company.”
During—and after—the speech, the hashtag #MosqueVisit began trending on Twitter, with users voicing their opinions on the president’s controversial visit. There were those who supported his gesture of solidarity and support towards the Muslim community, but the Internet is not without its trolls.
However it was not only the trolls who voiced their dissapointment at Obama's speech in the mosque, with some members of the Muslim community saying that they felt he dwelled too much on extremism.
See below, via Twitter.
#MosqueVisit Judging from the current US presidential candidates, we know that we will miss this man a lot pic.twitter.com/TVxtgrRAiL
— Rebuild Pakistan (@RebuildPAK) February 3, 2016
Speech in a nutshell:
— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) February 3, 2016
-Y'all are nice.
-Terror
-You have a responsibility, I am your father.
Unfortunate how much of this speech focuses on American Muslims/religion through a counterterrorism lens. #BMoreTogether #MosqueVisit
— Hina Shamsi (@HinaShamsi) February 3, 2016
the islamaphobia in the #MosqueVisit tag is nauseating:-(
— Emily Parker New (@_emmy_p_) February 3, 2016
Would've loved if Obama brought a transgender or a lesbian and demand their religion and gays coexist. Never gonna happen. #MosqueVisit
— Southern Sweetie (@ChristaLou90) February 3, 2016
@POTUS Thank you for reaching out to us. ❤️ #BetterLateThanNever #MosqueVisit
— Amal (@dsrtprincess) February 3, 2016
