The North Carolina office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NC), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said a decision by the University of North Carolina (UNC) to cover up an anti-genocide mural is part of a broader, nationwide pattern of suppressing student anti-genocide activism and stifling constitutionally-protected speech in support of Palestinian human rights.
The covered mural depicts a “collage of prints featuring black, white, red and green images — the colors of the Palestinian flag — and phrases associated with the pro-Palestine movement on top of a keffiyeh pattern. It is overlayed with text that reads ‘I TOLD YOU I LOVED YOU AND I WANTED GENOCIDE TO STOP.’”
In a statement, CAIR-North Carolina Representative Al Rieder said:
“UNC’s decision to censor student expression about genocide and Palestinian human rights is not an isolated incident — it is part of a disturbing trend across the country in which universities are caving to political pressure and silencing dissent. Covering up a peaceful, student-led mural about genocide is not neutrality — it’s complicity. Free speech doesn’t end when the topic becomes uncomfortable for those in power.”
BACKGROUNDER:
A CAIR initiative designates universities across the country that have suppressed students advocating against apartheid, genocide, and U.S.-backed military occupation. To read more about CAIR’s Unhostile Campus campaign and how to take action, visit: https://islamophobia.org/reportcampus/
Earlier this year, CAIR released its 2025 Civil Rights Report, Unconstitutional Crackdowns, which reveals that Islamophobia remains at record-high levels nationwide. CAIR said viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid was a key factor in many cases.
Yesterday, CAIR called on Congress to “pick America over AIPAC” in response to a Quinnipiac poll showing that 50 percent of voters recognize that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, six in 10 voters (60 percent) oppose sending military aid to Israel, and an equal number of voters now express sympathy for Palestinians and Israelis (37 percent to 36 percent).
Also yesterday, CAIR condemned an official Israeli government call to “remove” Muslims from Europe as another part of that terror state’s “war on Islam.”
Washington, D.C., based CAIR called the Israeli military a “terrorist organization” after Israel slaughtered at least 20 people, including five journalists, in a “double tap” strike on Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza in which one bombing was followed by another to kill first responders – the so-called “double tap.”
Last week, CAIR said that the United Nations official declaration that a man-made famine is occurring in Gaza “must mark the end” of the complicity of the Trump administration and Congress in the Israeli government’s ongoing and escalating genocide.
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CONTACT: Al Rieder, CAIR-NC, 202-742-6421, arieder@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com