Attacks on American Muslims are growing uglier by the day. It must stop.
Looks like fear — not turkey — is the main course being served in our country this week.
Political opportunists running for president have been cooking up a heaping platter of anti-Muslim sentiment since the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. They’ve geared us up for an epic Hategiving with their ugly proposals to shut down mosques, register American Muslims and reject Syrian refugees who aren’t Christians.
If you don’t think Muslims are under attack, take a look at what went down in the town of Fredericksburg last week.
The Islamic Center of Fredericksburg — a little brick building that looks like a bank branch office and has been around for 27 years — was skewered at a community meeting by a handful of seething people who see the center’s expansion plans as a threat to the very fabric of America.
“Nobody, nobody, nobody wants your evil cult in this county,” a man said in a video of the Tuesday meeting posted online by the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen, because you are terrorists.”
He wasn’t the only one spewing hatred.
A man wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with a flying eagle with American flag wings and the words “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave” kept getting up and shouting down the engineers and their blueprints.
“We all saying it: Muslim is evil,” he boomed, as murmurs and some low cheers fluttered around him.
This was said in a public meeting. In front of a large group of Muslims who have lived, worked and worshiped in this community for years. About a center that has been sponsoring a food pantry, prayers and subversive events such as “Farm Fun Day” for nearly three decades.
The Islamic Center’s grand expansion plan? It wants to grow to 8,000 square feet — basically, the size of a Denny’s.
Okay, brave eagle man. How about you listen to this guy:
“America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country,” he said. “Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads. And they need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.”
Source: www.washingtonpost.com