US Muslims Use #MuslimMeeting To Poke Fun At Reactions To Obama’s Sit-Down With Faith Leaders

The hashtag #MuslimMeeting has started to trend on Twitter after a meeting President Barack Obama held with American Muslim leaders Wednesday afternoon. Since then American Muslims have used the hashtag to poke fun at conservative outlets that have questioned the meeting’s intentions and participants.

“At today's #MuslimMeeting, Dearborn, MI was voted as the new capital of the US. Sorry, what was I thinking? No vote. It was done by fatwa,” Hind Makki, a consultant in Chicago, tweeted.

“At the secret #MuslimMeeting we established Fremont, CA as America's first (but not last) ‘no-go zone,’” Katie Miranda, an Arab-American cartoonist from Portland, Oregon, tweeted.

While the names of the leaders invited to the meeting have not been released, a White House press statement said domestic and foreign policy issues were discussed, including anti-Muslim violence, discrimination, hate crime prosecution and needing to counter the terror group known as the Islamic State.

Conservative outlets have criticized the meeting, particularly because the American Muslim leaders have not been identified. Dean Obeidallah, an American comedian of Palestinian descent, wrote in an article for the Daily Beast Wednesday that he was among the 15 leaders at the meeting.

“There are certain ground rules to these meetings, so I can’t disclose everything,” Obeidallah wrote, adding that he could share the comments he made.

“My comments were specific to the Republican elected officials who have made demonizing Muslims an increasingly visible part of their platform,” Obeidallah said.

Examples he gave were Oklahoma state Rep. John Bennett, who called American Muslims a “cancer that must be cut out of the American society." Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., who said Islam is not a religion and therefore “does not deserve First Amendment protection." He also mentioned Texas state Rep. Molly White who wrote a Facebook post last week telling Muslim Americans who visit her office in the state capitol they should first pledge allegiance to the United States and condemn terrorism.

“My point was that while bigotry from certain Republicans is nothing new, I’m alarmed about the Democratic response to these comments. What is the Democrats’ response, you ask? Simple: silence,” Obeidallah said.

Since the meeting American Muslims have taken to Twitter to confront the critical comments made after the meeting: