The Alabama office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AL), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said that Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) latest anti-Muslim statements and his celebration of Muslim students being denied educational facilities is “unworthy of his office” and is an un-American attack on religious diversity.
Sen. Tuberville reportedly said that an Islamic school that recently dropped its plans to relocate to Hoover, Alabama, after the planning and zoning commission rejected its proposal, “doesn’t need to be here.”
He also told Rightside Radio:
- “This goes back to a very deep subject – because we’re at war.”
- “We’re at war in this country with all the people that have come here from all over the world. And listen, we love immigration. We’re…all a part of an immigrant family one time and the other. But a lot of people come here and they want to assimilate.”
- “Not the group coming here from the Muslim countries.”
- “They’re coming here with an agenda.”
- “Muslim immigrants are bringing WWIII to American soil.”
- “Look at Europe. It’s gone…That is what’s coming to America.”
SEE: Tuberville celebrates Islamic school abandoning Hoover move: ‘Muslim immigrants are bringing WWIII’
In a statement, CAIR-Alabama Staff Attorney Britton O’Shields said:
“Senator Tuberville’s recent statements regarding the Islamic Academy of Alabama are hateful, reckless, and embarrassing. These continued attempts to villainize Alabamian Muslims demonstrate Senator Tuberville’s failure to appreciate Alabama’s history of racial violence. Sixty-two years ago, former Governor George Wallace made his ‘Segregation Forever’ speech the same year that the Klan killed four little girls at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Senator Tuberville must stop his defamatory campaign to foment hatred against the Alabama Muslim community.”
CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchellsaid:
“No American elected official should celebrate the denial of educational opportunities to children, let alone use his platform to demonize an entire faith community. Alabama’s Muslim families are our neighbors, educators, business owners, and public servants. They deserve representation, not vilification.
“At a time of increased threats targeting religious communities across the country, elected officials must lower the temperature and reject rhetoric that puts people at risk. Instead, Senator Tuberville continues to promote fear, division and conspiracy theories. His comments are unworthy of his office and unworthy of the people of Alabama.”
Last month, CAIR-Al welcomed federal charges brought against a man who allegedly made multiple threats targeting Jewish and Muslim religious leaders and called on political leaders, especially Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), to stop promoting bigotry against the people of Alabama.
In October, CAIR-AL called on political leaders in the state to denounce Sen. Tuberville’s “increasingly unhinged” conduct, including his embrace Sandy Hook Massacre denier Alex Jones and false claims that “sharia law” is taking over America. The Washington, D.C., based civil rights organization also called Sen. Tuberville’s bill purporting to ban “Sharia law” an “unconstitutional attack on religious freedom.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: A. Britton O’Shields, Staff Attorney – Alabama Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Alabama), aoshields@cair.com, 205-206-6399, 205-616-0733; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@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