Detroit Lions
safety Isa Abdul-Quddus and running back Ameer Abdullah have joined the
chorus of criticism against Donald Trump in the wake of the Republican
frontrunner’s incendiary proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the
US.
Trump’s plan for a “total and complete shutdown” of the country’s
borders to Muslims prompted immediate condemnation from across the
political spectrum, with fellow presidential contender Jeb Bush
denouncing Trump’s comments as “unhinged”. The Lions pair, who are
Muslim, spoke eloquently on Wednesday on how Trump “says a lot of things
for shock value” but admitted his remarks were “pretty ignorant” and
“kind of disappointing”.
Abdul-Quddus said he believes that the percentage of Americans who
believe Islam is “evil” is small, and not reflected by Trump’s
statements this week. “It was one of those things that … I kind of look
at the person before I look at the comment,” Abdul-Quddus said. “Because
Trump says a lot of things for shock value to get people to hear him
and listen to him, and just to put his face in public.
“I don’t really feel much disrespect when he said that, because he
already said he wanted to label us. He wanted to have every [Muslim]
have an ID and everything, so I just kind of chalk it up as a guy that’s
pretty ignorant.”
But Abdul-Quddus said he is concerned that Trump’s words might fan
anti-Muslim sentiment, particularly if his popularity in the polls
continues. “That’s the scary part,” Abdul-Quddus said. “I’m just hoping
that either he can change his mindset to be a bit more open-minded, or
people just realize we can’t have this ignorance in office.”
Trump has brushed off the horrified reaction to his proposal and
remained unrepentant. He told a raucous crowd aboard the USS Yorkstown
on Tuesday: “We need a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering
the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on.” He
acknowleged his words were “probably not politically correct – But. I.
Don’t. Care.”
Abdullah said of Tump: “He’ll say some things, and the large
following that he has – he has a very large following – is kind of
disappointing, from my perspective.”
Abdullah, in his first season with the Lions, and Abdul-Quddus, in
his second, said they’ve been treated well by people in Detroit, and
have not experienced religious bigotry since coming to the NFL. Abdullah, however, said he was called derogatory names growing up in Alabama.
Abdullah
said. “All I do is encourage people to educate themselves before taking
a stance, before just listening to someone, before making a judgment or
decision on how you should treat a person or talk to a person.
“You can’t control everyone. All you can do is pray for them and hope
that one day they’ll realize that everyone’s just people. You got to
love everyone, you got to respect everyone and understand that people
who make [bad] decisions are their own type of people. It’s a huge
difference.”
Abdullah also said he’s more worried about this Sunday’s game against the St Louis Rams than anything Trump has to say.
“I thought it was something that a lot of people wouldn’t really follow or agree with, so I didn’t really give it
much attention initially,” he said. “But just looking at it, I know Donald Trump actually has a pretty large following, so it is what it is.”
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