Raleigh, N.C. - Today, Congressman David Price (D-NC) offered the following remarks at the open house of the new Islamic Center in Raleigh:

I want to congratulate the Islamic Association on this impressive new facility and commend you for the vital work you have done, and continue to do, in the Triangle. Thank you for this open house – for inviting the entire community to join together and to rejoice with you at what the Triangle Muslim Community has achieved.

This gathering comes at an important time in our nation's history – a time of challenge in meeting economic needs and achieving social justice in our own country, and a time of great challenge internationally, in the Muslim world and beyond. We have elected a president whom we need to work with to confront these challenges, a president who recently stood on a stage at Cairo University – a place some of you know well– and affirmed for all the world that "Islam has always been a part of America's story."

Of course, this isn't news to you: ever since you first started organizing prayer meetings and other gatherings in student centers and parking lots back in 1981, the Islamic Association has been telling this story in our schools, our places of worship, and our public squares. You continue to do so today at this open house, through your presentations on Islam and films about the American Muslim family.

You have also put your words and values into action, and in meeting the needs of Triangle families – Muslim as well as non-Muslim – the Association has established itself as an valuable member of our community. Through its schools, its mosque, its youth camps, and its charitable activities, it has shown our region the true face of Islam as it was revealed: peaceful, tolerant, and striving always toward greater justice.

It has been a pleasure for me to work with many in this community on a wide range of constituent services and issues. Many of you have expressed particular interest in the House Democracy Assistance Commission which I chair and which has partnerships with the parliaments of four majority-Moslem countries: Indonesia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. You've taken a special and constructive interest in peace with justice in the Middle East and in United States policy toward Pakistan, Iran, and other key countries. As Homeland Security Appropriations Chairman, I have worked with you to make certain that discrimination and profiling have no place in our security policies; as we protect America, we must make certain we don't violate the very values for which America stands. And like many Americans, many of you have weighed in on the economy, energy, health care, and other issues of the day.

We surely have a lot to work on! I count it a privilege to represent you in Washington. So today, as we celebrate and thank you for your hospitality, we also look forward to working together in the months and years to come on behalf of the Triangle's Muslims and the entire community.

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