Begin Note:
I attended the Everett Community College speaking event by Raymond Ibrahim. Overheard one EvCC rep telling local newspaper reporter about the number of phone calls, emails, and comments on the school’s Facebook page that were for or against having Mr. Ibrahim speak. Overwhelmingly most were thankful to school for allowing him to speak. This representative claimed that it was planned all along for Mr. Ibrahim to speak in the series on Islam. I don’t remember that ever being said on their Facebook page when CAIR was invited. I only remember people begging to allow him to come and allow equal time.
Another EvCC rep introduced Mr. Ibrahim, but first put in his jab at all the protest comments on their Facebook page in January. The EvCC rep said even though the comment writers thought they were very Christian and patriotic, they weren’t. He claimed there were no local negative comments about CAIR speaking, only people from a “Facebook” organization. He claimed that each year of education makes students less dogmatic. I would say that is one way of putting it for liberal schools leading us away from moral absolutes.
Mr. Ibrahim did an outstanding job, even though he was obviously very tired, he spoke boldly, out of a wealth of knowledge. He was not daunted by unpleasant faculty comments and held his ground admirably. Audience questions on comment cards were filtered by faculty members so I don’t know if better questions could have been read to further the discussion…Mr. Ibrahim commented that the questions were generally weak. Mr. Ibrahim noted that CAIR has accused him of being “racist,” saying this was laughable because he IS Egyptian and has many Arab/Middle Eastern friends. He speaks about the religion of Islam, which is not a race.
The crowd filled the auditorium with seating for 104, and many standing along the walls. There was a mix of students and community members. There were 3 local news stations with cameras there, as well as the local newspaper reporter. There was obvious efforts made to keep the assembly peaceful, several uniformed security officers were present, and faculty immediately silenced any in audience that tried to talk out. After the meeting the cameras went immediately to the outspoken defenders of Islam.
It was obvious that ACT! For America had a big hand in raising the awareness of Everett Community Colleges’ Islamic voices on campus. So much so that community members knew about this and came to hear, that they were heard by the school through phone calls/emails/Facebook, and that it attracted Seattle area news channels.
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