Khizr Khan seeks to motivate young Muslims in era of Trump

Khizr Khan is stepping back out into the spotlight.

It’s been about five months since Khan first gained national attention for calling out Donald Trump’s caustic campaign rhetoric and policy proposals at the Democratic National Convention.

Khan, a Pakistani immigrant and Gold Star father of a fallen Muslim American soldier, quickly became a key figure in the presidential election, campaigning on behalf of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as he continued to speak out against Trump. Now that Trump has been elected, Khan is encouraging young Muslim Americans to do the same.

“Never feel afraid, never feel disheartened,” Khan told a crowd of students and other young people at the annual Muslim Public Affairs Council conference in Southern California over the weekend.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the council is one of about 24 American Muslim and South Asian groups that Khan has met with since the election, and he has several more such visits on his schedule. His message, the Times reports, is fighting back against the “politics of fear.”

During his hour-long speech Sunday, Khan acknowledged the Muslim community’s anxiety over some of Trump’s campaign vows, including his plan to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. and to halt the Syrian refugee program. He also pointed to recent reports of anti-Muslim hate crimes across the country. According to the Times, Khan assured his audience that Muslim Americans aren’t the only ones feeling “so discouraged or so concerned” right now, and argued that because of Congress, “it will take years before anything is changed or implemented.”

Still, while Khan insisted that “nobody will take away your rights,” he also urged Muslim Americans to play a more active role in the political process. “Nobody is going to put your rights on a plate and say, ‘Here, citizen, here [are] your rights, enjoy them,’” he said.

Amid speaking engagements, the 65-year-old lawyer is also reportedly working on a memoir that’s slated to be published next year.