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Article: A Publics Figure; Congress's First Elected Muslim Is Emblematic of Many Things, Depending on Group Needing a Symbol
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 16, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Keith Ellison is what he is -- the first Muslim elected to
Congress, the first African American to represent Minnesota --
while trying not to be too much of what he is. But not too little,
either.
Quietly devout, he unrolls his prayer rug in the privacy of his
office in the Longworth House Office Building, facing the corner
beyond which lies Mecca -- but that is still too Muslim for some.
Antiwar, he once voted for an Iraq war-funding bill because it
had a timetable for withdrawal -- but that was not dovish enough
for some protesters who subsequently held a sit-in at his
Minneapolis office.
More than two years after he came to Washington, the idea of
Keith Ellison, the symbol of ...