Q&A with Keith Ellison

From nearly the day he announced his candidacy for Martin Sabo’s congressional seat, controversy has followed Keith Ellison. The campaign was bizarre. And after Ellison, forty-three, was elected, becoming the highest-ranking elected Muslim in U.S. history, there was hand-wringing in newspapers and on conservative talk radio over his decision to use the Koran for his ceremonial swearing-in photograph. The choice prompted Rep. Virgil Goode (R–VA) to warn the country, “[If American immigration policies go unchanged] there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.” Ellison, by the way, traces his U.S. ancestry back to the 1700s. —S. M.

There’s already been a controversy about how you’re going to be sworn in.
This whole flap has had the positive benefit of having people reexamine the Constitution. And it’s like, “Wow, I guess it says in there that there can be no religious test to holding an elected office.”

Do you think that becoming the unofficial American spokesperson for Islam will be distracting to the business of being a congressman?
Yes, that would be very distracting. Therefore, I’m not going to do it. I’m going to send folks to other people who are more knowledgeable than me. One problem is that I’m not qualified. I’m not a religious leader. Or a religious scholar. I just try to keep up with my prayer. Go to the mosque on Friday. Pay some charity. That’s pretty much what I’m doin’.

Your predecessor was on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, and he had a tremendous amount of seniority. He brought home the bacon to Minneapolis. Do you feel an obligation to do so?
I feel like I have an obligation to serve the district. Nobody is going to step into the big shoes of Martin Sabo. All of us are going to have to climb the learning curve, build the seniority, build the credibility; all to serve the district.

You do seem to want to delve more deeply into social and global issues than Congressman Sabo.
Yeah. Whereas Martin rarely spoke out on the burning issues of the day, I might be heard from more on those things. Whereas Martin simply stuck to the bread-and-butter economic issues, I may speak to issues of civil and human rights, war and peace, justice, things like that. Whereas he was in a downtown office building, I’m going to be in a neighborhood building. We are going to be different. It’s not going to be the same. But it’s going to be good.

You ran a community affairs program on KMOJ. Do you listen to hip-hop?
Love it. I like Jay Z. And Eminem is from Detroit, and I was born and raised in Detroit. And the older stuff—Public Enemy, Run DMC. Now my kids know the latest latest.

As a member of the Minnesota House, you worked on bills that protected privacy and limited racial profiling. In the era of the Patriot Act, what legislative steps are necessary on the national level?
We’ve got two problems. One is there’s just explosive growth in technology. They can do more and faster. And then you have this state of fear, which drives security concerns over and above issues of liberty. [But] privacy is a good thing, and you shouldn’t have to justify privacy. They say, “Well, if you’re not doing nuthin’, then why do you need privacy?” Well, I walk into that bathroom and you know what I’m doing in there, but I don’t want you watching me.”

I was told I couldn’t ask questions about parking tickets, taxes, or your personal religious beliefs. It seemed a little Prince.
I don’t know if it’s “a little Prince,” but I think that communication is exchange. And exchange has to be on terms that both parties are willing to deal with. I didn’t know that people told you that. You can certainly ask. And what I say is up to me. I’m going to tell you that all that stuff about my personal frailty was put in front of the voters. And now the election is over, so why are we still picking at that? At some point it’s over.