Ghazala Khan, the mother of a fallen soldier whose family has clashed with Donald Trump, joined around 20 other Muslim women on Tuesday to launch a political action committee aimed at driving U.S. Muslims to vote.
Khan praised her fellow “daughters and sisters” for creating the American Muslim Women Political Action Committee, saying they are “so strong” and will “bring more people with us.” Others at the event, meanwhile, had a seemingly odd message for Trump: Thanks for bringing us together.
The PAC is the latest example of growing political activism in America’s Muslim community — a movement that’s been given an adrenaline shot by Trump. The Republican presidential nominee called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., cast Syrian refugees as potential terrorists and suggested U.S. Muslims are failing to report potential extremists.
Khan’s presence Tuesday was especially poignant because she and her husband, Khizr Khan, have repeatedly stood up to Trump. They first did so during the Democratic National Convention and have again tangled with him since his debate on Sunday with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, during which the Khans’ son’s death was again thrust into the spotlight.
“We do our best because God has chosen us, has given us this responsibility,” Ghazala Khan told POLITICO ahead of her remarks to the group, which formally endorsed Clinton.
The Khans’ tussles with Trump were among several reasons that Mirriam Seddiq was inspired to launch the PAC. The Afghanistan native said she originally had decided not to vote. But then her son asked where their family would go if Trump won. And then her cousin reminded her that people in Afghanistan have been killed for voting.
“That was the final straw,” she said, adding that she woke up one day soon afterward and decided to form the PAC.
Among those who spoke during the gathering, held at the National Press Club, was Masuda Sultan, a founding board member of Women for Afghan Women. She offered Trump a backhanded compliment.
“We’ve been brought into this election without us necessarily volunteering, but now that we’re in I’m actually very grateful to Mr. Trump for calling us out because now we can actually organize and bring our voices together,” Sultan said.
An estimated 3.3 million Muslims live in the United States, according to a January report from the Pew Research Center. The Muslim community itself often puts the figure as higher. Regardless of the number, there’s a strong consensus that the community overall has become more politically active since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Trump’s rise this election season has dramatically boosted that activism, especially among a younger generation of Muslims who say they are tired of dealing with anti-Muslim backlash and misunderstandings.
Voter registration has become a huge focus of Muslim activists this year. For example, the United States Council of Muslim Organizations, an umbrella group, has launched an effort to register 1 million Muslims to vote.
The group held an emergency summit and decided to pursue the voter registration effort after the San Bernardino shootings and Trump’s subsequent call for the ban on Muslims entering the U.S. (The Republican has since tried to relabel the proposal as “extreme vetting” of people from countries “compromised by terrorism.”)
The move, said USCMO Secretary-General Oussama Jammal, is the “appropriate, civilized, proper response to hate speeches against the Muslim community.”
“The Muslim vote has been underestimated and discounted for far too long, and we hope to change that this year,” said Linda Sarsour, co-founder of MPowerChange.org, in an email.
Muslim women in particular have been incensed by Trump’s treatment of the Khans, whose son Army Capt. Humayun Khan died in an explosion in Iraq in 2004.
After Khizr Khan spoke during the Democratic convention, asking Trump if he had even read the Constitution, Trump wondered publicly why Ghazala Khan had silently stood by her husband during his speech. “Maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say,” he said, implying she was a stereotypical oppressed Muslim woman.
Seddiq mentioned Trump’s insults as she described her own political awakening this year. “I never realized people thought we couldn’t talk, because I talk a lot,” Seddiq said, laughing.
A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request for comment. The Republican candidate has called Humayun Khan a hero, even as he has fought with the fallen soldier’s parents.
In an interview with POLITICO during Tuesday’s event, Khizr Khan’s voice broke with emotion as he recalled how Trump claimed during Sunday’s debate that Humayun Khan would still be alive if he had been president at the time.
“It is tremendously painful to hear his name in the political discourse,” Khizr Khan said of his son. “It’s a shame that [Trump] uses these statements so disingenuously.”