The Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community which is supporting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has strongly criticised Donald Trump for his remarks against the father of a slain Pakistani-origin American Muslim soldier.
By criticising the Khan family, Trump was not just attacking Muslims, but disparaging all American soldiers and veterans and the entire community, the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Victory Fund said in a statement.
The repeated pattern of attacks on this family from the Republican candidate is reprehensible, the Victory Fund, a super Political Action Committee (PAC) found early in 2016 said. The Victory Fund is endorsing Clinton for the Presidential elections in November. "As a proud American who is Muslim, we cannot remain silent when the Republican presidential candidate's platform is based on hate and bigotry," Dilawar Syed, co-founder and vice-chairman of the Victory Fund said.
"Mr Khan's call to action in speech last week at the DNC was to vote, underscoring that this election is the most important of our lifetime and we must turn out the vote in every community," Syed said. "When Donald Trump attacks the Khans, he attacks my community too," Tung Nguyen, co-founder of the Victory Fund said. "Trump's comments against refugees, new Americans and anyone who does not hold his rigid ideology, is attacking the essence of what America is," he said.
The Pew Research Centre estimates that 28% of 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States are of Asian descent. "The American Muslim community is diverse and by attacking them, Trump directly attacks Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and all AAPIs," Shekar Narasimhan, chairman of the AAPI Victory Fund said.
"Prominent Republicans have spoken out against Donald Trump's actions, and some have even left the Republican party," Varun Nikore, vice chairman for strategy & operations said. "Regardless of political party, there comes a time where decency and respect of those who served must prevail. We must all take action at the ballot box to send a strong message that the AAPI community will not tolerate this behaviour from a presidential candidate," he said.
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