I was one of the attendees at Thursday's Central Lakes College Islamophobia presentation. I was very disappointed with the way Mr. Hussein spoke as if Minnesotans' ignorance was the only reason that we had a problem with the influx of Muslim immigrants to our area. He failed to address any legitimate concerns that we had about Minnesota residents returning from fighting alongside insurgents in Africa and the Middle East and what they might do here in Minnesota. He was also very proud of the number of discrimination lawsuits that CAIR was involved in, a large percentage of them involving workplace situations where the employer wasn't allowing for the Muslims to have proper prayer time. My son works in a very high tech factory in Europe alongside Muslim coworkers, and they don't need special prayer time. Why are religious rules different in this country? Even though the Hmongs had a rough start when they first came to Minnesota, they have now integrated nicely even though their religion wasn't common here. I wish Mr. Hussein would meet with people in a setting that would allow for local residents to get better answers to legitimate questions.
Tom Wilczek
Little Falls
