Keith Maurice Ellison

Keith Maurice Ellison 1963-, African-American politician, the first Muslim to win a seat in the U.S. Congress. A convert to Islam from Roman Catholicism while at Wayne State Univ. (B.A. 1986), he attended law school (Univ. of Minnesota, J.D. 1990), was active in civil-issues in Minnesota in the late 1980s and early 90s, and then worked as a criminal defense lawyer. Twice elected (2002, 2004) to the Minnesota house of representatives as a liberal Democrat, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.
Born in Detroit in 1963, Ellison was one of five children in a Roman Catholic family. He converted to Islam at 19 while attending Wayne State University. In 1987, he moved to Minnesota to attend University of Minnesota Law School, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 1990. He then practiced law privately in Minneapolis. In 2002, he was elected to the Minnesota State Legislature. He and his wife Kim have four children.
In 1990, Ellison wrote an article for a University of Minnesota newspaper (he was then a law student there) defending Louis Farrakhan against accusations of Antisemitism. He later retreated completely from this defense, stating that he was in err, and that he should have examined more closely the accusations leveled against the Nation of Islam founder at that time.
Ellison's adversaries found further fodder for linking him to the Nation of Islam when it was revealed that he worked with the group for 18 months to organize the Minnesota contingent of the Million Man March. Ellison stated that while he collaborated closely with the group on the project, he was never a member of it.
In early 2006, the Minnesota State Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board reprimanded Ellison for unreported contributions, discrepancies in cash balances, and misclassified disbursements. These transgressions occurred in the years 2002-2004. In 2005 when the board tried to get more information about the problems in Ellison's reports, they got no response from Ellison or his treasurer (his wife Kim). When the board heard nothing, they opened the investigation. Ellison was subpoenaed and fined. The board has also fined Ellison numerous times for late filings.
After his election to Congress, Ellison opted to take his oath of office on the Koran. This announcement prompted criticism from Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Vir.), who called Ellison's intention to use the Koran a threat to American values.
On January 2, 2007, Ellison announced that he would swear-in on a copy of the Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. Specifically, he said that he would take the official oath of office along with the other incoming members in the House chamber, then use the Koran in his individual, ceremonial oath with new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). His spokesperson, Rick Jauert stated, "Keith is paying respect not only to the founding fathers' belief in religious freedom but the Constitution itself.”
The American Israel Education Foundation, an organization affiliated with AIPAC, funds trips to Israel for freshman members of Congress. In July 2007, Ellison went on his second trip to Israel courtesy of AIEF. About this trip he stated:
"Whenever you're talking about dialogue with Hamas, it's something that's extremely controversial...I'm not trying to step into some controversy, but I am trying to be a voice for dialogue. I'm trying to go there to be a helpful figure, not a person who's going to stir up controversies."
Jeffrey Blankfort, a California-based justice activist, commented on Ellison's comments and trip: "What a pathetic confession by a member of the US Congress, and an African-American, in particular, in openly acknowledging that Jewish Zionists call the tune to which he dances in Washington. Is it any wonder that there is a great deal of justified anti-Jewish animosity within the Black community, mistakenly described as "anti-semitism"? This kind of thing has been going on for decades while the Zionized White Left looks in the other direction In any case, the accusation of "anti-semitism" has become the first refuge of scoundrels."