A 56-year-old Muslim woman named Rose Hamid was ejected from a Donald Trump rally in South Carolina on Friday (Jan. 9). Hamid was among a group of silent protesters who stood up during the controversial Republican’s speech. Wearing a t-shirt that read, “Salam, I come in peace,” she was asked to leave the event, as attendees booed, chanted Trump’s named and inquired whether she “had a bomb.” In an interview with CNN, Hamid shared why she participated in the protest.
“I have the sincere belief that people get to know each other one-on-one that they’ll stop being afraid of each other and we’ll be able to get rid of all this hate in the world, literally. So that was really my goal, was to let people see that Muslims are not that scary.”
Woman in turquoise w/ hijab is Rosa Hamid. Said she’s here bc “most Trump supporters probably never met a Muslim.” pic.twitter.com/G6jO15xQpa
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) January 9, 2016
As Hamid stood, Trump reportedly spoke of Muslims saying, “There is hatred against us that is unbelievable It’s their hatred, it’s not our hatred.” Hamid said that before she was escorted from the rally, she was treated fairly by the people around her, but that once the “hateful rhetoric” began, the crowd turned ugly. Asked by Don Lemon why she “put herself in that position,” Hamid said she wanted to removed the “those people” distinction from people’s way of thinking. She also noted that she did not feel threatened by the group.
“I believe that people in all camps are decent people when you get to know them. It’s when you get that hateful rhetoric going is what incites people. I never felt truly threatened. I was not afraid of these people, because I truly believe that the decent people would have stood up and not permitted that.”
Trump has openly shared his stance on Muslim presence in America, previously calling for a “complete shutdown” of all Muslims’ travel into the country. So there’s that. Watch footage of the clip below:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jlyjHZG3PeI%3Frel%3D0