Mukhtar Ibrahim, MPR
When GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said a Muslim shouldn’t become a president of the United States, Yusuf Dayur couldn’t remain silent.
Listening to Carson’s comments on YouTube troubled Yusuf enough that he asked his mother to grab her smartphone and record him.
“This is my response to presidential candidate Ben Carson,” Yusuf began in a calm, soft voice.
The 12-year-old Eden Prairie middle-schooler paused. What followed next sounded like a politician responding to the president’s State of the Union address.
In two minutes and 20 seconds, Yusuf spoke about race, religion and slavery. He also announced his future candidacy for president of the United States.
“Mr. Carson,” he continued, sitting on a couch in his home, “what if someone told you that you can’t become president because of your color? What if someone told you that you can’t become president because of your race? What if someone told you can’t become president because of your faith? And that’s what you did to me.”
Yusuf, who was born in St. Louis Park, then talked about his desire since age 2 or 3 to become president. When he was in preschool, he said, “I would brag to my little, tiny friends that I’m going to be a president one day.”
Then he collected his thoughts and became a bit sentimental.
“You basically shattered my dream,” he told Carson, “because you said that a Muslim president cannot become president.”
Yusuf pointed out that “back in the ’60s, ’70s during slavery, people would say black people cannot become president.”
President Obama broke that barrier. Yusuf wants to break a barrier, too.
“I will become the first Muslim president,” he said, “and you will see that when I become president I will respect people of all faiths, all colors and all religions.”
The video, which was originally posted to the Facebook page of Yusuf’s mother, has garnered more than 100,000 views and has been shared about 4,000 times.
Read more: Never a Muslim president? Minnesota boy, 12, tells Ben Carson he’s wrong
Source: MPR
