More mosques receive hate-filled letters from California
By Mara MacDonald and Derick Hutchinson
Click on Detroit
A hate-filled, handwritten note arrived Wednesday at an Islamic center in Ann Arbor, calling Muslims “vile and filthy people.” That’s the mildest of what’s in the letter.
Dawud Walid, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter, said the letter arrived Wednesday at the Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor and Vicinity. It warns President-elect Donald Trump is “going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews.”
Walid said it’s the first mosque to receive the letter in Michigan, which has one of the nation’s largest Muslim populations. It’s postmarked Los Angeles and signed “Americans for a Better Way” — as were four others received in Indiana, California, Rhode Island and Georgia.
“We do know there have been letters sent to Islamic centers in California, Massachusetts, as well as in Alabama,” Walid said.
The mosque doesn’t hide letters from its members. The center said it has to handle threat letters like this responsibly, but not to live in fear.
“We have to keep on fighting and stand up for our rights here as Americans,” Walid said.
Trump has told “60 Minutes” if his supporters were harassing others, they should “stop it.” The FBI has said it’s monitoring the situation.