Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
International

Bangladeshi-Origin Muslim White House Staffer Quits US President Donald Trump's Office Over Travel B

IANS, 27 Feb, 2017 12:16 PM
    Hijab-wearing Muslim ex-White House staffer of Bangladeshi-origin has said she quit her job after US President Donald Trump announced his controversial travel ban, lasting just eight days in the new administration. Rumana Ahmed was hired in 2011 to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council (NSC).
     
    "My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman - I was the only hijabi in the West Wing - and the Obama administration always made me feel welcome and included," she wrote in an article published in The Atlantic.
     
    Ms Ahmed said that like most of her fellow American-Muslims, she spent much of 2016 watching with "consternation" as Mr Trump "vilified our community".
     
    "Despite this - or because of it - I thought I should try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration, in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America's Muslim citizens.
     
    "I lasted eight days. When Trump issued a ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all Syrian refugees, I knew I could no longer stay and work for an administration that saw me and people like me not as fellow citizens, but as a threat," she said.
     
    Ms Ahmed said the evening before she left her job at the White House, she notified Mr Trump's senior National Security Council (NSC) communications adviser, Michael Anton, of her decision.
     
     
    "His initial surprise, asking whether I was leaving government entirely, was followed by silence - almost in caution, not asking why. I told him anyway," she wrote.
     
    "I told him I had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country's most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim," Ms Ahmed said.
     
    She told Mr Anton that the administration was attacking the basic tenets of democracy. She said Mr Anton just looked at her and said nothing.
     
    Ms Ahmed, whose parents immigrated to the US from Bangladesh in 1978, said inspired by then president Barack Obama, she joined the White House in 2011, after graduating from the George Washington University.
     
    "The days I spent in the Trump White House were strange, appalling and disturbing," she wrote.
     
    Ms Ahmed's personal account comes amid a spike in incidents of intimidation and assault targeting hijab-wearing women across the US following Mr Trump's electoral triumph.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    13-Foot Python Swallows A Whole Wallaby In 30 Minutes In A Golf Course

    13-Foot Python Swallows A Whole Wallaby In 30 Minutes In A Golf Course
    It took 30 minutes for the reptile to finish its rather large meal after which it slithered into the bushes. Reportedly, it wrestled with the animal for a bit before fially swallowing it.

    13-Foot Python Swallows A Whole Wallaby In 30 Minutes In A Golf Course

    High-risk Woman Goes Missing With Newborn Baby

    High-risk Woman Goes Missing With Newborn Baby
    Police say Bobbi Glogowski is believed to have given birth to her child two days ago outside of hospital.

    High-risk Woman Goes Missing With Newborn Baby

    Two Indian-Origin Persons In US Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 List: Forbes

    Two Indian-Origin Persons In US Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 List: Forbes
    To be eligible for the list, individuals had to be under the age of 40 as of December 12. These entrepreneurs also have to reside in the US and substantially have made their own fortunes in this country, Forbes said.

    Two Indian-Origin Persons In US Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 List: Forbes

    Indian-Origin UK Minister Praises PM Modi For Demonetisation

    Britain's Indian-origin minister Priti Patel has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the demonetisation move, saying it is a right step to curb black money and sends a "strong message" to the whole world against illegal deals and trade.

    Indian-Origin UK Minister Praises PM Modi For Demonetisation

    Santa Claus Grants Terminally Ill 5-Year-Old Boy's Final Wish As Child Dies In His Arms

    Santa Claus Grants Terminally Ill 5-Year-Old Boy's Final Wish As Child Dies In His Arms
    Eric Schmitt-Matzen, 60, who works as a part-time Santa, spoke with the Knoxville News Sentinel about a phone call he received last month from an acquaintance who is a nurse at a local hospital.

    Santa Claus Grants Terminally Ill 5-Year-Old Boy's Final Wish As Child Dies In His Arms

    Sikh-Americans Raise $250,000 For Needy Students In Punjab

    Sikh-Americans Raise $250,000 For Needy Students In Punjab
    According to Manpreet Singh, a board member of Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF), 539 scholarships were awarded in 2016.

    Sikh-Americans Raise $250,000 For Needy Students In Punjab