Elham Asaad Buaras
A video showing two hijab-wearing Muslim women being denied entry to a campaign event for US Vice President, Kamala Harris, in Las Vegas has sparked allegations of discrimination against the Biden-Harris campaign.
Even though both women had valid invitations and wristbands for the Get the Vote Out event, where Harris was the guest speaker, the staff informed them that they could not enter the venue.
The incident was captured on video and shared on X on January 30 by an account named Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation. In the exchange recorded on January 27, one woman is heard asking, “Why are you choosing us not to go in when we have an invitation?” As the man said nothing and continued to let other people pass through the line, the second woman said, “You specifically singled us out.”
The first woman took over the conversation, asking if their entry was “against the Democrats’ whole campaign. That’s very Islamophobic. That’s very racist.” To which the man only replied, “I’m sorry,” evoking the woman to speak her mind even further.
“They’re disinviting us because we have hijabs on our heads. This is disgusting,” she said. “We’re the only hijabi women; that’s kind of clear. They’re disinviting us because we have scarves on our heads. That’s disgusting when we have an invitation just like everyone else. What is the problem?”
“I feel targeted right now, and that’s disgusting,” she continued. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We have an invite; we have a wristband; we showed our ID.”
The pro-Palestinian community voiced their outrage at the situation, posting the video exchange on X.
“Both of these Muslim constituents had RSVP’d for the event, were given wristbands upon checking in, and were standing in line when the Harris campaign officials denied them entry,” said Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation in a post.
Although campaign staffers in the video don’t respond directly to those accusations, Biden’s campaign has since strongly denied that the women were refused entry to the event because of their race or faith.
“These individuals were among the group of people not allowed to attend Saturday’s event after previously disrupting and shutting down events with Democratic elected officials,” a campaign aide told The HuffPost. “As a policy, the campaign will disinvite individuals known to have disrupted prior events.”
According to NBC News, the disruption of several Biden-Harris rallies by pro-Palestinian protestors chanting “Genocide Joe” at the President has spurred the administration to hire veteran logistical planner Doug Landry.
Officials told NBC that volunteers at events are being trained to keep an eye out for potential protestors, though they are not able to stop them from attending.
However, the barring of Muslim women in Nevada from the event has enraged the pro-Palestinian movement.
In a statement, the Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation said, “As you can see in the video, these women were ‘disinvited’ while others were being let in who were in line behind them. When pressed about why they were not allowed in, the Harris officials could not give a legitimate reason.”
The Biden-Harris campaign has yet to respond to this recent episode, but campaign officials are bracing for more instances like this in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
“We are closely coordinating with law enforcement overseeing security, including planning for expression of First Amendment rights, and we look forward to hosting what we are confident will be a safe and successful convention,” a spokesperson for the Democratic National Convention said in a statement.
