This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Kira Brekke.
Islamic radicalism poses a threat to the U.S. and immigration laws should be made stricter, former U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo said Thursday night in the Marvin Center Amphitheater.
Tancredo was the keynote speaker for Islamo-Facism Awareness Week, hosted annually by the GW chapter of the Young America’s Foundation.
“I believe we should slam the door on immigration on people who are coming who believe in Shariah Law,” Tancredo said. “It does not fit with the Constitution of the United States. It cannot co-exist, it is impossible.”
Tancredo said he supports restricting “the cult of multiculturalism that permeates our society,” by making immigration laws stricter.
The desire for non-Americans to impose new ideologies and force new religions into American culture instead of assimilating and adopting the American culture is what Tancredo attributes as the main problem in America.
“When a devout and focused group of opponents is on the other side of the wall of you, whose got the advantage? It’s not us. Not unless we accept the idea that there is American conceptualism,” Tancredo said.
Tancredo challenged the attendees to question the role of American citizens and the things that hold Americans together, like faith and religion.
“We are facing this problem because of what has happened to us, this cult of multiculturalism which is making it hard for us to figure out who we are,” Tancredo said.
Tancredo also shared his views of President Obama. He said he does not think Obama likes the America that Tancredo holds dear. Tancredo emphasized, however, that this has nothing to do with race.
“Race is not a deterrent to that assimilation,” Tancredo said. “We have to think about who we are as Americans. That does not have to do with race, it is a set of ideas.”
The former Republican presidential candidate told the audience that Americans need to reevaluate their priorities and come up with a definition as to what Americans believe in.
“Something is missing guys, and we better figure out who we are,” Tancredo said.
Organizers of the event said they thought Tancredo’s speech was educational, as they had not previously heard the solutions to Islamo-facism that Tancredo brought up.
“The event went as well as I could have expected it to,” said GW YAF President Travis Korson. “Congressman Tom Tancredo brought up interesting points that I was not aware of and a lot of what he said is what we are trying to prove.”
In the past, Korson said that there has been a lot of protesting of YAF and Islamo-facism week, so he said he was glad that this event was peaceful.
Students who attended the event said they thought Tancredo had interesting points.
“I like him. I think he can be radical on some issues but generally I like him because I think that even if you don’t agree with him on every issue, he passionately and intelligently argues his opinion,” said freshman Britta Schletter. “I think you have to have respect for that.”
