CAIR: Ohio Groups to Ask School to Drop Anti-Islam Tea Party Speaker

CLEVELAND, March 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Monday, March 28, the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) will join with the NAACP and other civil rights and interfaith groups at a news conference outside the Board of Education in Mansfield, Ohio, to address the negative impact a speech by an anti-Muslim Tea Party speaker will have on district students. The groups will ask the board to rescind its approval to hold the event in a school facility.

The anti-Islam speaker, Usama Dakdok, claims all Muslims are "demons" and that "there is no good Muslim." He is scheduled to speak Monday evening at Mansfield Senior High School at an event sponsored by the Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association.

NAACP: Tea Party Speaker Coming to Mansfield is 'Anti-Muslim'

http://tinyurl.com/4b2l4b7

Video: Usama Dakdok Claims All Muslims are 'Demons'

http://tinyurl.com/5ujrurz

Tea Party Event -- Freedom or Surrender

http://www.bloodofpatriots.org/upcoming.htm

Participants in the news conference will outline how the perception of official endorsement of hate speech violates both the school board's "core principle" of providing a "safe learning environment" and its rental policy that prohibits use by groups that would "interfere with the educational program of the schools."

According to the school board's "Use of District Facilities" policy, "Under no circumstances shall the grounds or facilities be used to raise funds for political purposes." Despite that prohibition, a Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association organizer of the event told the Mansfield News Journal that "donations will be accepted."

SEE: Use of District Facilities

http://tinyurl.com/4jmsx5e

"The promotion of anti-Muslim hate in a public school facility sends the message to students that the Islamophobic views of the speaker have official endorsement," said CAIR-Cleveland Executive Director Julia Shearson.

Shearson also called on national Tea Party leaders to repudiate the hate-filled actions of their local affiliate.

ACTION REQUESTED: (Be POLITE and respectful.)

Contact Mansfield City Schools

E-Mail: [email protected]

Copy to: [email protected], [email protected]

Tel: 419-525-6400 (press 9)

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR-Cleveland Executive Director Julia Shearson, 216-830-2247 or 216-440-2247, E-Mail: [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, or 202-488-8787, E-Mail: [email protected]; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE CAIR