A forum set up to build bridges between the Muslim American community and the larger Tennessean community degenerated into a hate filled side show, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The American Muslim Advisory Council organized the forum in response to the posting of a incendiary cartoon by a Coffee County, Tennessee commissioner on his Facebook page.
The cartoon showed a man pointing a gun with the caption “How to Wink At a Muslim.”
Protestors disrupted the meeting attended by 600 people from the beginning.
“This night was supposed to be about understanding the Muslim-American community,” Sabina Mohyuddin, a spokeswoman for the council, told Hatewatch. “[But] during the whole program, from the beginning to the end, protestors were heckling, interrupting, shouting out.”
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You can read more about the people behind the protest in the Southern Poverty Law Center.