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ISNA Mourns the Death of Senator Edward Kennedy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Source: ISNA

(Plainfield, IN – August 26, 2009) The Islamic Society of North America conveys its deepest condolences to the family of Senator Edward Kennedy who passed away on the evening of August 25, 2009.  “To God  we belong and to Him we return (Qur’an 2:156).”

Senator Kennedy’s life is a testament to the possibility that dedicated public service can make a profound and positive impact on the people’s lives.  Senator Kennedy worked long hours to support, and often lead, the development of legislation to support the rights of workers, immigrants, the disabled, and other marginalized and historically oppressed people.  Senator Kennedy was a relentless advocate for health care reform, first leading the successful development of S-CHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and continuing until the end of his life to advocate for health care for all Americans.

At the beginning of his Senate career Senator Kennedy denounced the war in Vietnam and forty years later, in 2002, voted against authorizing the war in Iraq.  A strong advocate for peace and reconciliation in Ireland, a critic of South African apartheid and Chilean dictatorship, Senator Kennedy often set a high moral standard for US foreign policy.

According to the New York Times, after the tragic assassination of his brother Robert, Senator Kennedy said, “My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.” We believe these words to apply to our brother in humanity, Edward Kennedy.

Contact:
Louay Safi
Director of Communications and Leadership Development
317.838.8130
louay@isna.net