PHILADELPHIA: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he wants to ban Muslims from entering America.
However, Khizr Khan and his wife, both Muslim Americans from Pakistan, called out Trump while speaking at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, asking him to read the Bill of Rights, and look up what “liberty” and “equal protection under law” meant.
Khan’s son, Humayun, was a captain in the U.S. Army. When a vehicle carrying explosives approached his compound in Iraq in 2004, he asked his comrades to seek cover as he ran toward it. The car exploded, killing Humayun instantly. He was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously.
In 2005, The Washington Post interviewed Khizr Khan. “They did not call him Captain Khan,” he said of the soldiers his son led. “They called him ‘our captain.’ ”
“We are honored to stand here as the parents of Captain Humayun Khan,” the elder Khan said, “and as patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to our country,” stirring delegates who had watched a video tribute to his son in captivated silence.
He spoke of his son’s dreams of becoming a military lawyer and how Hillary Clinton had referred to his son as “the best of America.”
Then he focused his attention on Trump.
“If it was up to Donald Trump, [Humayun] never would have been in America,” Khan said. “Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.”
“Donald Trump,” he said, “You are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy.”
He then pulled a copy of the Constitution from his coat’s pocket. “In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law’,” the father of the slain soldier said.