GCIV hosted Mr. Mohammed Khaliel in Atlanta November 7-11 through the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. Mr. Khaliel is a candidate for Parliament for the Labour party and also serves as an advocate for Muslims in the United Kingdom. His advocacy work also extends to education, housing and mental health issues. He came to Atlanta to meet with counterparts in politics, diversity education, and civil rights.

His professional program in Atlanta began with a visit to the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials to discuss minority participation in politics. Afterwards he had the opportunity to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site and learn about Dr. King’s legacy. Later that afternoon he met with staff of the Dekalb County CEO, who is also running for U.S. Senate. They discussed local governance and campaigning issues. At the end of the day he met with several representatives of the Islamic Speaker’s Bureau, and learned about their programs to combat misinformation and stereotypes about Islam.

On his second day of professional appointments. Mr. Khaliel met with representatives of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to discuss the American civil rights movement. Later he participated in a GCIV Global Lunch Forum, where he spoke with several GCIV members about his experience back home. His final meeting of the Atlanta program was with members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to discuss their advocacy work.

GCIV was honored to have this distinguished visitor come to Atlanta and meet with many of our valuable professional resources. His experiences here in the U.S. gave him a first-hand view of the U.S. political system, diversity issues, and civil rights. Of course his trip has also helped to expand the knowledge of our local Atlanta experts. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.