Muslims and Sikhs in 2 states are speaking out about Islamophobic and racist messages displayed on trucks spotted in both New Jersey and Connecticut.
ABC7 reports security cameras at the Muslim Center of Middlesex County in New Jersey videotaped a truck circling the Center containing images from the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. That attack by Islamic terrorist organizations in Pakistan conducted over four days left 178 people dead.
“By targeting a Muslim center and deliberately circling its premises repeatedly, the perpetrators expect New Jersey’s Muslim community to answer to, or even feel shame for, an event that occurred entirely independent of them,” said Selaedin Maksut, executive director of the NJ chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
NBC Connecticut says another truck with a digital billboard spotted in Norwich contained the message “Mayor Peter Nystrom, deal with the extreme poverty in Norwich. Stop promoting Pakistan-sponsored Khalistan terrorists.”
“Disinformation is one concern, but the major concern is that it can excite hate crimes and we should do everything and anything to prevent hate crimes,” said local Sikh community leader waranjit Singh Khalsa.
The billboard also drew concern from local Pakistanis.
“We don’t want anyone to see these stupid kinds of messages and come to do any kind of stupidity,” said business owner Rashid Munir.
The mayor also denounced the messages.
“I think it is someone trying to intimidate somebody. It is not intimidating me,” Nystrom said.
It’s not known if the two trucks are connected or who is behind the trucks.
“Anti-Muslim intimidation tactics like these are unacceptable,” CAIR’s Maksut said. “They mirror the tactics used against American Muslims in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks and could lead to an uptick in anti-Muslim incidents as we’ve seen over the past two decades.”
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