CAIR, CAIR-Kansas Call on Kansas GOP, United Wireless Arena to Drop Speaker from Hate Group Calling for 'Execution' of Anti-Racist Protest Leaders

News provided by

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Jun 12, 2020, 17:51 ET

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Kansas chapter are calling on the Kansas Republican Party and the United Wireless Arena in Dodge City, Kan., to drop anti-Muslim hate group leader John Bennett as a keynote speaker at the Dodge City Republican Expo.

SEE: Dodge City Republican Expo coming June 27
https://www.dodgeglobe.com/news/20200610/dodge-city-republican-expo-coming-june-27

Bennett, who has called for the removal of American mosques and calls Islam a "cancer," is the Vice President of Understanding the Threat (UTT) whose founder and President John Guandolo yesterday called for the "execution" of anti-racist protest leaders. Guandolo said: "[W]e should round up the leaders and execute them for trying to revolt and overthrow the government."

LISTEN: Leaders of BLM And ANTIFA Should Rounded Up and Executed Says John Guandolo [Audio]
https://hillreporter.com/leaders-of-blm-and-antifa-should-rounded-up-and-executed-says-john-guandolo-audio-70718

Both CAIR and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have designated Understanding the Threat an anti-Muslim hate group.

The Dodge City Republican Expo, which will take place Saturday, June 27, at United Wireless Arena, is being organized by the Kansas Republican Party's First Congressional District and the local Dodge City Wild West Republican Women's Club.

"The Kansas Republican Party, its affiliates and the United Wireless Arena should not provide a legitimizing platform for a disgraced anti-Muslim hate group leader like John Bennett to spread his message of bigotry," said CAIR Director of Government Affairs Robert S. McCaw.

"We urge Kansas Republican leaders and United Wireless Arena to do what is right and drop a speaker who promotes the kind of bigotry that we are seeing challenged every day at anti-racist protests nationwide," said CAIR-Kansas Board Chair Moussa Elbayoumy.

He noted that in 2014, CAIR-Kansas expressed opposition to Sedgwick County Sheriff's bringing John Guandolo citing his record of inciting hate against Islam.

SEE: Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office won't partner on anti-terrorism training by controversial speaker
https://www.kansas.com/news/article1144011.html
Kansas sheriff won't partner on training by John Guandolo
http://www.cairkansas.org/cair-ks-media/press-releases/228-kansas-sheriff-wont-partner-on-training-by-john-guandolo.html

Incitement against Islam in that part of the state resulted in increased hate crimes against Muslims and Muslim business and places of worship.

SEE: CAIR-Kansas Welcomes Guilty Pleas for Hate Attack on Somali Men
http://www.cairkansas.org/cair-ks-media/press-releases/224-kansas-welcomes-guilty-pleas-for-hate-attack-on-somali-men.html
CAIR Seeks Protection for U.S. Islamic Institutions After 'Militia' Plan to Attack Kansas Mosque
http://www.cairkansas.org/cair-ks-media/press-releases/226-cair-seeks-protection-for-us-islamic-institutions-after-militia-plan-to-attack-kansas-mosque.html

BACKGROUND ON JOHN BENNETT:

In 2017, CAIR-Oklahoma issued a statement in response to an Islamophobic social media post by then state Rep. John Bennett calling for the removal of American mosques.

Bennett's Facebook post, which has since been taken down, suggested that if Confederate monuments are being removed because of the Civil War, mosques should also be removed due to 9/11.

SEE: Oklahoma Lawmaker's Facebook Post Regarding Mosques Sparking Controversy

Bennett, a former Republican Oklahoma State House representative with a long history of making anti-Muslim remarks, has called Islam "a cancer that needs to be cut out of the nation" and repeatedly stated that he does not consider Islam to be a religion.

Background: Understanding the Threat and Its Founder and President John Guandolo

In September of last year, CAIR welcomed a Texas jury's award of $600,000 to former Minnesota Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek's in his civil lawsuit against anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist John Guandolo and his anti-Muslim hate group Understanding the Threat (UTT). Stanek claimed Guandolo assaulted him during a 2017 National Sheriff's Association (NSA) conference.

Guandolo is a disgraced ex-FBI agent and anti-Muslim extremist who has long peddled conspiracy theories about Islam and Muslims.

Guandolo is an infamous Islamophobe who claims a former CIA director was a "secret Muslim" and that Muslim hotel managers, cabbies and 7-11 workers seek to take over America.

He stated that the US Justice Department should have prevented two Muslim women from being elected to Congress and has also claimed that former CIA Director John Brennan was a secret Muslim.

Guandolo has stated that if he was "anointed king," he would execute those, including Democratic and Republican leaders who he claims are "advancing a radical Marxist Islamic agenda in the United States."

Among his many other bizarre and Islamophobic claims, Guandolo has falsely claimed that:

mosques are planning armed attacks on law enforcement authorities and churches,
the Black Lives Matter movement is funded by "enemies of the United States,"
when a Delaware Imam (Islamic religious leader) touched his nose during the pledge of allegiance before a legislative session it was part of "civilizational jihad,"
Muslims are "obligated" to lie."

In 2018, CAIR welcomed a decision by Tennessee's Trevecca Nazarene University to cancel an anti-Muslim event that would have featured three Islamophobic speakers, including Guandolo.

SEE: CAIR Welcomes Tennessee University's Decision to Drop Anti-Muslim 'Summit'

CAIR similarly welcomed a decision by Virginia's Amherst County Sheriff's Office to drop an event featuring Islamophobic conspiracy theorist Chris Gaubatz. Gaubatz is a former employee of Guandolo's anti-Muslim hate group Understanding the Threat. Gaubatz is now the President of another anti-Muslim hate group, RAIR (Resistance Against Islamic Radicals).

The FBI was asked to investigate an image tweeted by Guandolo's hate group that purported to show the bombing of "CAIR HQ" in Washington, D.C. Guandolo, who has previously tweeted that "CAIR needs to be obliterated," re-tweeted the bombing image on his personal account. Earlier this month, Guandolo tweeted that "Islam is evil & barbaric."

SEE: CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Tweet by Anti-Muslim Group Showing Bombing of 'CAIR HQ'

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

CONTACT: CAIR-Kansas Board Chair Moussa Elbayoumy, 785-318-6323, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)