The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned an alleged hateful rant by a Washington, D.C., business owner targeting an Uber driver for speaking Spanish.
Video posted online reportedly shows that business owner berating the delivery driver, shouting, “Learn English. Learn it. You make money in America, learn English.”
“We condemn this apparently bias-motivated outburst targeting an individual for merely speaking another language,” said CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison. “All Americans should be able to express themselves as the wish without fear of intimidation or harassment.”
Allison added that earlier today, CAIR welcomed a guilty plea by an Indiana woman who was charged last year for a bias-motivated stabbing targeting an Asian student at Indiana University.
He noted that CAIR recently spoke out against anti-Asian attacks in New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, and a number of other states.
Allison said CAIR and the American Muslim community stand in solidarity with all those challenging antisemitism, systemic anti-Black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry.
END
CONTACT: 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