Anaheim, CA: The Greater Los Angeles Area chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) Feb 17 expressed solidarity with the Christian community after a racist threat was sent to the Saint Paul Baptist Church in Oxnard, Calif.
Phrases like "ugly monkey," "back to Africa" and "pin a medal on James Earl Ray did the world a favor," in reference to the man who killed Dr Martin Luther King Jr., were written around the headline of a newspaper clipping featuring Bishop Broderick Huggins. Local Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
“We join the entire faith community in condemning this apparent act of intimidation and racism,” said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. “Because the target of this incident was so specific, this should be treated as a possible hate crime. On behalf of CAIR and the greater American Muslim community, we offer support and express solidarity with Bishop Broderick Huggins.”
CAIR recently stood in solidarity the African-American community following a series of arsons targeting St. Louis-area churches and with a San Francisco-based African-American Christian church that was vandalized with graffiti.
CAIR-Texas also recently expressed solidarity with the Jewish community after vandals spray-painted Nazi swastikas and racial slurs on gates, walls and monuments near a synagogue in San Antonio.
The Muslim community has in the past expressed solidarity with Jewish, Christian and Sikh communities in New Mexico, Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California following acts of violence, vandalism, arson or bombings. |
