Khizr
Khan, whose son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, 27, died from a suicide
bombing in Baghdad 12 years ago, said that if Trump is able to follow
through on his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country, his
late son never would have been able to come to serve the country in the
military. The Khans, a Muslim family, immigrated to the United States
from the United Arab Emirates.
"Have
you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave
patriots who died defending America -- you will see all faiths, genders
and ethnicities," he said. "You have sacrificed nothing and no one."
Speaking
on the fourth and final night of the convention, Khan's remarks set the
tone before Clinton accepted the party's nomination.
Kahn's
focus on the contributions from immigrants -- a direct rebuke to
Trump's proposals -- spoke to the heart of who Clinton says she is,
emphasizing a core message from the campaign that Trump's plans to
restrict immigration would end up hurting more than it helps.
In
one particularly powerful moment of his speech, Khan pulled a
pocket-sized Constitution from his suit jacket and held it in the air.
"Donald
Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me
ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution?" he said. "I
will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words,
look for the words, liberty and equal protection (under) law."
His
speech and reference to the Constitution came just minutes after Trump
defended his stance to use waterboarding on terror suspects if he became
president.
"They ask me about
it, I say, 'no problem. No problem. You have to do it. Because they're
chopping off heads and we can't waterboard?" Trump said during a rally
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, describing his response to a question about
waterboarding and ISIS during a debate.
Khan
said in his speech: "If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have
been in America. Donald Trump consistently smears the character of
Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own
party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country."
Humayun
Kahn enrolled in the ROTC program at the University of Virginia after
completing high school in Maryland. He graduated with a degree in
psychology before being deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army.
According
to the San Francisco Chronicle, Khan was a counselor to soldiers with
plans to attend law school. He wanted a career advocating for veterans.
But
on a June morning in 2004, Khan was inspecting the front gates of his
Baquba, Iraq, camp with other soldiers when a car sped toward the group
causing Khan to order the soldiers to hit the ground.
Khan
took 10 steps toward the car as it rushed toward him signaling for it
to stop with his right hand when the car blew up. It contained more than
200 pounds of explosives. Khan's warning to other soldiers about the
approaching vehicle had saved their lives.
Khizr
Khan was born in Pakistan and moved his family from the UAE to Boston
in 1980 to study law at Harvard University. He now lives in
Charlottesville, Va., and works as a legal consultant, according to the
San Francisco Chronicle.
Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, called his speech "moving" and "electric."
"That
was probably one of the most moving events of the entire four days when
he talked about his son. I got a boy in the Marines, so I hear somebody
who sacrificed a child in military service. It really grabs you," he
told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on New Day. "That was just an absolutely
electric moment in the building and I suspect it was electric for
everyone watching it on television."
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