Madeleine Albright and Mayim Bialik Say They’ll Register as Muslims
Madeleine Albright Image by getty images
(JTA) — Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and actress Mayim Bialik said they would register as Muslims if President Donald Trump creates a registry of Muslim Americans.
Albright, who served under President Bill Clinton, cited her Jewish ancestry in her statement Wednesday on Twitter.
I was raised Catholic, became Episcopalian & found out later my family was Jewish. I stand ready to register as Muslim in #solidarity.
— Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) January 25, 2017
Albright’s parents converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1941 after their native Czechoslavakia disintegrated at the hands of Hitler. The family eventually immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1940s.
Trump is considering a temporary ban on refugees from Muslim-majority countries such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia. During the presidential campaign, he also floated the idea of registering American Muslims in a database.
Albright, who campaigned for Hillary Clinton during the election season, repeated her stand during a conference call with the Refugee Council USA on Thursday.
“Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. How tragic would it be if tomorrow is the day that our president decides to close the door on refugees?” Melanie Nezer, vice president of the Jewish refugee resettlement organization HIAS, said on the call.
Bialik, a star on “The Big Bang Theory,” echoed Albright’s words on Wednesday and also cited her Jewish heritage.
I’m Jewish. I stand ready to register as a Muslim in #solidarity if it comes to that.
— Mayim Bialik (@missmayim) January 25, 2017
Albright and Bialik join the list of other prominent Jews to criticize the Muslim registry idea.
Speaking Saturday at the Women’s March on Washington, feminist icon Gloria Steinem said to the crowd that if Trump forces Muslims to register themselves, “we will all register as Muslims.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt started the call just after Trump’s election in November.
“B on anti-Semitism.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
