Words matter. Haven’t we heard that before? For Maryland Democrat Kristin Mink, she learned that the hard way, and that representing a relatively liberal region of the state does not shield you from being dragged for saying foolish things. Mink, a Montgomery County, Maryland council member, landed in hot water when she equated the local Muslim community to white supremacists. There’s an ongoing battle within the schools here, where Muslim families are rightfully not thrilled that their children will have access to LGBT-inspired textbooks. Some of these materials have been reported to contain graphic discussions about sexuality. Muslims have felt that these textbooks infringe upon their faith, which drew the reaction from Mink.
It devolved into a mini-culture war between Muslims and mostly white liberals, a blood sport I’d pay to see daily. Mink later apologized for pretty much calling Muslims Nazis for opposing the LGBT curriculum (via Fox News):
A Democrat Maryland elected official apologized in a Sunday afternoon statement addressed to the Muslim community days after she blasted their children who spoke against an LGBTQ+ curriculum at a Montgomery County Public Schools board meeting as being aligned with "White supremacists."
Kristin Mink, a Montgomery County council member and former public school teacher at MCPS, maintained in her apology statement that her Tuesday board of education meeting remarks were "focused on promoting inclusion."
"[My remarks] created an opportunity for misunderstanding and mischaracterization," she said. "I apologize for the hurt that caused in the Muslim community."
Muslim children at the Montgomery County Public Schools district had been speaking out against their parents' inability to opt them out of LGBTQ+ lessons they deemed violated their faith at the meeting.
[…]
She [Mink] then claimed to understand where the faith community was coming based on the fact that she sat down with members from the Montgomery County Muslim community before she spoke at the meeting.
Did she have to sit with the Muslim community over this issue? She didn’t know this might likely cause a problem. Or maybe she should have met with local Muslim leaders before pushing nonsensical learning materials that many in her community find offensive before branding them quasi-members of the Third Reich. I have no idea when Ms. Mink is up for re-election, but I’d be worried about this public relations trip-up.
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