Muslim Macon Mayor
I was doing a little bit of websurfing before heading off to the hospital and just had to quote this Georgia news story:
Ellis converts to Islam, will change his name By Matt Barnwell TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
Macon Mayor Jack Ellis has converted to Islam and is working to legally change his name to Hakim Mansour Ellis.
The mayor, raised as a Christian, said Thursday that he has been studying the Quran for years. He became a Sunni Muslim during a December ceremony in the country of Senegal, on the western coast of Africa. He said the religion originally was practiced by his West African ancestors before they were brought to America by slave traders.
Ellis said his decision was a personal one, though he understands his elected position breeds public interest in his choice. It was not something he decided overnight to do, he said. He will keep his last name the same at the request of two of his daughters.
"Why does one become a Christian?" the mayor said. "You do it because it feels right. It's the right thing for you to do. ... To me it's no big deal. But people like to know what you believe in. And this is what I believe in."
I'm sure a portion of Maconites will criticise him for converting and leave all kinds of nasty comments about Muslims. But I didn't anticipate this line of criticism:
Once again Mayor Ellis puts himself before the good of Macon. If he wants to change his name and convert to Islam, fine, but do the name change after he leaves office and the City of Macon won't have to pay for the expense of printing new business cards and any documents that bear his name. The city can't afford to fix the western bank of the Ocmulgee levy that the Army Corp of Engineers has cited for being under par and as a result will cause nearby businesses to pay higher insurance rates, but we can afford to reprint any signage, business cards, letterhead, legal forms, etc. that bear the mayor's legal name? Thanks for thinking about how your actions will impact your constituents Ellis!!!!
* Posted by: anne
She does have a point.
[UPDATE] As a commenter below elaborates, it's probably not a very good point.
Foster Care System Perspectives
2 comments:
I agree, she does have a point, but what is the validity of it? What if a single female official marries during her term? Do you think the same flak would be thrown at her? Maybe this is a good reason to not have term limits so we can save some money not having to reprint all the signage and papers?
Do you think if he was going from Muslim to Christian and with it making a name change, someone would have this same criticism?
The constituents do not realize that the levy issue comes from a different budget than what is figured for an office/clerical budget. And an expense budget cannot be take it's "overages" and apply it to a capital budget. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
And no, my rant is not directed at you, but at Anne.
I do think his name change will have the beneficial effect of raising the public profile of Muslims in America, much like Keith Ellison. Georgia politicians are a pretty bad bunch, so I'm quick to think the worst of them... Thanks a lot for your comment, I appreciate the perspective on the budget!
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