Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim congressman, gave emotional testimony Thursday to a House of Representatives committee hearing on radicalization in the U.S. Muslim community. Tearfully describing the story of a Muslim-American first-responder paramedic who died on September 11, 2001, Ellison criticized New York Republican Rep. Peter King for leading the controversial hearings that have reignited a national debate over how to combat a spate of home grown terrorism. "Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans," Ellison said, his voice trembling. "His life should not be defined as a...

There is little doubt that Mohammed Salman Hamdani died a hero on 9/11. The Pakistani-born American, just 23 years old, tried rescuing people from the World Trade Center when the buildings collapsed, killing him as well as almost 2800 others in the worst terrorist attack on American soil. Hamdani had planned a life of service to his community, working as a paramedic and then as a cadet for the New York Police Department. His heroic death was significant enough to get an explicit mention in the USA Patriot Act in its condemnation of bigotry against Arabs and Muslims.Even so, this...