Downingtown resident Hareem Ismail, took the time on Friday after dropping off her nine year old daughter at a relative’s home to head to Philadelphia’s City Hall to join over 75 other Muslim Americans to speak up in opposition to the recent hate speech aimed at people of her faith.

The demonstration was organized by South Jersey Muslims in conjunction with other religious groups to show a strong condemnation of ISIS and the recent terrorist attacks in California and France. As a result, Ismail was there to deliver a strong message.

“What the U.S. represents to us is unity and love,” she said. “Fearing Muslims and discriminating against them is not what this country represents to us.”

While the event was not widely publicized at the time of the rally due to safety concerns, the organizers chose Philadelphia as it gave them a chance to give greater exposure to their message of peace and to show support for American Muslims.  

“These recent actions in Paris and San Bernardino were like a stab in the heart,” said Betty Ali, 71, of Haddon Heights, a former Catholic nun who converted to Islam after marrying an Egyptian Muslim. “It’s like your loved ones are falsely accused of a murder they didn’t commit. The last couple of events were like thunder.”

The issue is that many Muslim Americans feel that they are being condemned as terrorist sympathizers just because of their religion. The recent rhetoric from the GOP Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump, who recently called for the ban of all Muslims entering the country, has also inflamed the issue.

Another attendee at the rally, Shafi, who is a Sales Executive for a software company, helped organize Friday’s rally due to his concern about people promoting hate speech. He has his own tale of discrimination as a classmate of his daughter’s called her a terrorist about five years ago, when she was in middle school, after a speech she gave about Muslims.

“There is a lot of that going on,” he said but he was at the rally to let people know that “Muslims are just like other U.S. citizens trying to raise families. We stand with Americans.”