Last updated on April 14th, 2018 at 08:31 pm
Over the weekend, a protest formed at a conference in Texas held by a Muslim group titled “Stand With the Prophet Against Terror and Hate.” The conference, organized by the group Sound Vision from Chicago, was held in order to raise funds for a Muslim center that would teach members of the faith how to deal with negative descriptions of their religion. A demonstration formed around the Curtis Curwell Center in Garland, where protesters expressed their anger and disgust with Muslims in general.
Per Dallas-area news station NBC-5, thousands of protesters and counter-protesters gathered outside the conference center on Saturday, even though the event itself was only scheduled to have 500 attendees. In a display of ignorant xenophobia, protesters brought signs that read, “Go home and take Obama with you.” A number of demonstrators were interviewed by the station for a story that ran on Saturday evening. As one might expect, the blatant Islamophobia and bigotry poured freely.
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One protester, Greg McKinley, told NBC-5, “We are here to stand up for the American way of life from a faction that is bent on destroying it.” He also pointed out that “if they want to live their lives like the Middle East, they can go back to the Middle East.” Meanwhile, counter-protesters that were interviewed provided a much more reasonable perspective, telling the station they just wanted to show that they are also Americans.
Thankfully, there was no violence during the conference or at the demonstrations outside. Protesters did stay until the evening as the event ran, but the news station did not report any physical confrontations. It did point out that some of the protesters did verbally berate the counter-protesters and conference attendees. The main message of the demonstration appeared to be summed up in one sign: “You are not Americans. Do not fly our flag.”
In the aftermath of the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo, right-wing media and Republican politicians have once again whipped up xenophobic fears by using intense anti-Islamic rhetoric. Fox News, the lead dog in this effort, finally had to apologize for running blatantly false information about Muslim “no-go zones” and “religious police” in Europe. However, the ‘apology’ was run on a Saturday evening so as to reach the fewest number of their base audience as possible. And, seeing how Garland residents are reacting to American Muslims, it is clear that the underlying message of a radical Islamic takeover of the world has resonated and taken hold.
Below is video of NBC-5’s story:
H/T Raw Story
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
