The Embassy of Yemen was concerned and appalled this evening when MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews indirectly branded the people of Yemen as terrorists. This was an unfair comment, which the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Washington, D.C. strongly condemns.

Tonight, Mr. Matthews inquired of the guest of his show the following:

”To be blunt and not be into political profiling or racial profiling but when you look at a picture that we’re looking at now are there people in the FBI in the investigative world that can look at the picture, study it ethnographically and figure what the odds are on a fellow like that being from different parts of the world say YEMEN…”

Mr. Matthews should have known better than to use this language. For one, no technology or expertise in the world can determine an individual’s ethnicity by simply analyzing a picture. As well, Mr. Matthews’ comments have offended hundreds of thousands of American citizens of Yemeni decent who are law abiding citizens. Yemen continues to be a steadfast partner with the people and the government of the United States of America to the rid the world of extremist, violent groups like alQaeda. Given that Mr. Matthews’ comment was, whether directly or indirectly, discriminatory against Yemenis, it only seems appropriate that Mr. Matthews issues an immediate apology. It’s enough that Arabs, including Yemenis, deal with racial profiling and discrimination on a daily basis. The last thing they need is for prominent media personalities to reinforce these beliefs