Congress's First Elected Muslim Is Emblematic of Many Things, Depending on Group Needing a Symbol

By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 16, 2009

Keith Ellison is what he is -- the first Muslim elected to Congress, the first African American to represent Minnesota -- while trying not to be too much of what he is. But not too little, either.

Quietly devout, he unrolls his prayer rug in the privacy of his office in the Longworth House Office Building, facing the corner beyond which lies Mecca -- but that is still too Muslim for some.

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