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What's Fair to Donald Trump Should be Fair to Keith Ellison

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Republican president-elect Donald Trump, as everyone knows, launched his campaign with insults to women, Muslims, Mexicans and other minorities -- and without apologies to anybody. He won election anyway.

Now we have Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, frontrunner for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, receiving renewed scrutiny of his past statements in support of Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and other radical figures --which he renounced at least 10 years ago.

Can Ellison, 53, the first Muslim elected to Congress (and, along with Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, one of two now serving in Congress), receive what Trump requested throughout his campaign, to be "treated fairly"?

I don't fault the Anti-Defamation League for raising questions about Ellison's bid last week, although I think they would have benefitted from talking to him first. The statement from ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt cited statements about Israel in a 2010 speech by Ellison as "deeply disturbing and disqualifying."

The statement was released the same day as a new CNN report detailed Ellison's past defense of Farrakhan, whose past statements about Jews and Israel enflamed tensions nationwide, beginning with the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign.

Ellison responded to the ADL in an open letter, describing himself as a "strong supporter of the Jewish state, voting for more than $27 billion in aid to Israel."

 

He described his quotes about Israel in question as "selectively edited and taken out of context" by an unnamed person whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has called an "anti-Muslim extremist."

Nevertheless, he said, he looked forward to working with the ADL more in the future.

The ADL statement dealt a setback to Ellison's bid, in which he has emerged as frontrunner. His wide-ranging endorsements include Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Ellison forcefully renounced his association with the Nation of Islam and its leader Minister Louis Farrakhan in 2006 after it became an issue during his first run for Congress. Local Republican bloggers had published his old law school columns and photos connecting him to the black separatist organization and even speaking favorably of racial separatism and slavery reparations.

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(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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