Skip to main content

Muslim Solidarity Rally

Support Provided By
Members of the Islamic and other religious communities listen during a solidarity rally held in response to President Donald Trump's new executive order on refugees.
Members of the Islamic and other religious communities listen during a solidarity rally in Los Angeles held in response to President Donald Trump's new executive order on refugees. |   Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
"We want to send a message to every American in every corner of America to say, please don't hate. Please don't fear."

Dozens of people gathered outside the Islamic Center of Southern California Friday as one in a series of nationwide rallies in solidarity with immigrants and the Muslim community in response to President Donald Trump's recent order temporarily banning visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Waving signs and chanting slogans, participants in the afternoon rally said they wanted to send a message of togetherness, and also to combat notions that Muslims should be feared.

"We want to send a message to every American in every corner of America to say, please don't hate. Please don't fear," ac

tivist Jarin Islam told the crowd.

Organizers of the rally said they wanted to show unity with people who have been "ostracized by the Trump Administration" and decry "hate- mongering."

"We are one nation, united and strengthened by century-old traditions that no one administration can undo," said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "Our unity and demonstrations of love and resistance will defeat hate and division."

A separate march and rally with the same message was held at the University of La Verne.

"We have many students who are personally affected by an executive order that bans certain groups of people, so it creates a sense of lack of belonging or fear," university chaplain Zandra Wagoner told ABC7.

"Our unity and demonstrations of love and resistance will defeat hate and division."

Trump's order suspends entry into the United States for those traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, and all refugee admission for 120 days. It indefinitely suspends refugee admissions from Syria.

Trump has defended the order and condemned characterizations of the action as a "Muslim ban."

"To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion -- this is about terror and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order.

We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most secure policies over the next 90 days. I have tremendous feeling for the people involved in this horrific humanitarian crisis in Syria. My first priority will always be to protect and serve our country, but as president I will find ways to help all those who are suffering."

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.