The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and its Chicago chapter (CAIR-Chicago) today condemned anti-Muslim vandalism of a bus stop in Peoria, Illinois.
Hate graffiti, including “Kill all Muslims,” was written on a CityLink bus stop in that city.
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago said: “The last time this genocidal hate phrase ‘Kill All Muslims’ made headlines, a six-year old Illinois Palestinian-American child was fatally stabbed 26 times. His memory cannot be forgotten this quickly or ever. We expect the matter to be addressed by local officials with the highest urgency to ensure swift accountability and reassure calm and safety for local Muslims.”
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“Calls for violence targeting minority communities must be rejected by all political and religious leaders. As Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry are on the rise nationwide, it is the duty of all Americans to push back against hate.”
Hooper noted that earlier this week, CAIR called for hate crime charges to be filed against two individuals for an incident in which one of them allegedly urinated on the doorstep of a Tennessee mosque.
He said Washington, D.C., based CAIR recently released new civil rights data showing that it has received 3,578 complaints during the last three months of 2023 amid an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate.
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CONTACT: Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR Chicago, 202-870-0166, arehab@cair.com; Maggie Slavin, Operations Manager of CAIR-Chicago, 815-590-3991, mslavin@cair.com; Erin P.R. Davis, MCM, Communications Coordinator of CAIR-Chicago, 773-802-8786, epdavis@cair.com , Eman, 646-302-3149; 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