Letter to the Editor: Muslim ties?

1 min read

The owner of A Tec auto has put up a campaign sign that in my mind crosses the line. It asserts that people should not vote for Barack Obama because he has “Muslim ties.”

There are two things wrong with this often repeated charge. First, as many others have pointed out, it is simply a falsehood. But worse, it is an ethnic slur.

I ask myself when I see that, so what if he did? Are ties to Muslims bad? Don’t we have Muslims among our friends, neighbors and colleagues right here in Farmington? Moreover, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell recently said, isn’t America just the sort of place where Muslims as much as any others have a right to our political process, including running for office?

A generation ago we might have heard slanders about a candidate “fathering a black child.” Fortunately, we have outgrown that and hopefully we can outgrow this bigotry as well.

Steve Bien
Jay

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3 Comments

  1. Steve,
    First of all I want to inform you that it was not a campaign sign. There were no campaign signs on my property that I personally put up. I frequently put up quotes from many different sources, this one was from Fox News. You also need to be corrected about muslims being an ethnic group. Last time I checked it was a religion, (check the dictionary). The sign is designed to get people to think. Obviously, that’s what it did.
    If you had any questions you should have come in and talked to me about it, instead of spreading falsehoods about me. Anytime you have questions about the sign and it’s content, please feel free to call or stop in and talk to me. Assumption is how hate gets bred to begin with.

  2. Owner,
    I need to clarify something here ….. ASSUMPTION is not how hate gets bred to begin with …… posting signs that have to do with peoples individual beliefs or rights as an American is how hate Breeds….

    That is all I wanted to say…

    P.S. reverse the quote ….. what if it said “Barack Obama has ties to Christians”…… would you still had posted it …… I doubt it

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