GOP event at Bloomington mosque inspires right-wing freak-out

Earlier this year, Zavier Bicott, who works with a citywide inclusion group called One Bloomington, sat down with the leaders of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center.

He was there to talk about what city amenities could use improvement. That’s when he got an interesting question.

“One of our members got to know that Zavier was a Republican,” Dar Al-Farooq’s executive director, Mohamed Omar, said. In fact, Bicott is the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Minnesota. So they asked why Republicans attack Islam, and why they aren’t open to Muslims joining the party.

This is a question of particular importance to the Dar Al-Farooq Center. The mosque has been attacked by people who see Islam as something opposed to American life, rather than part of it. Last summer, a bomb went off at the Islamic Center.

No one was hurt, and some conservatives (including Donald Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka) suggested the explosion had the makings of an inside job, a PR stunt to garner sympathy. Later last fall, the mosque was broken into.

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