(ATLANTA, GA – 7/17/17) — The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) today called on mosques in Georgia and around the country to alert law enforcement authorities if they receive threatening phone calls from a man who has repeatedly threatened to attack a Georgia mosque.In the weeks since June 22, an unidentified male using a Missouri phone number has called a Georgia mosque eight times and left more than 20 minutes of voicemail messages.
The caller repeatedly threatens to shoot, bomb, and otherwise attack mosques and American Muslims in general.
Among many other remarks, the man says:
“We are actually gonna come to your mosques and f*cking blow the heads off of the people that are in your mosques and f*cking kill you and shoot everybody in your mosques as a mass slaughter. So either way, you sand n*ggers are going to get out of my country…just so you know. And if you think I’m joking, it’s going to happen. In fact, I know where you live at.”
“The white people of America are going to kill you out of this country. . .”
“Now that President Trump is president, I’m going to report your number to the White House and he’s going to do something about this….It’s not going to be overnight, but I’m telling you. We’re going to get rid of you one way or another.”
“The United States was founded on Christian religion. That’s the reason why our American dollar says, In God We Trust. It doesn’t say, In Allah We Trust.”
The suspect never mentions Georgia or the name of the particular mosque which received the messages. The mosque, which has previously faced anti-Muslim bigotry, has decided to remain anonymous to protect itself from copycat attacks.
The caller’s phone number begins with an area code unique to St. Louis, Missouri. CAIR-Georgia is not releasing additional information about the caller to in order protect the integrity of any ongoing federal investigation.
“This is what hate sounds like,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, executive director of CAIR Georgia. “Death threats are nothing new to our community, but these messages may represent the worst hate speech leveled against a Georgia mosque since the election. If any other houses of worship receive similar threats, they should immediately alert law enforcement, as well as their local chapter of CAIR.”
CAIR-Georgia and the targeted mosque have alerted both federal and local law enforcement to the voicemails.
“If a Muslim extremist spent weeks threatening to attack a church, he would quickly and rightfully find himself in a federal penitentiary,” Mitchell added. “We hope law enforcement will arrest this man before he acts upon his pledge to attack American Muslims.”
CAIR-Georgia held self-defense seminars at three different Georgia mosques just before Ramadan, and encourages more houses of worship across the state to host the free seminars, which cover personal, home and mosque security tips.
Earlier today, CAIR’s national office released an update on anti-Muslim incidents in the second quarter (April-June) of 2017.
READ the Full CAIR Quarterly Report on American Muslim Civil Rights:
Since the beginning of the year, CAIR’s national office has called for investigations of possible bias motives for dozens of other incidents targeting mosques in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, Georgia, Arizona, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Texas, and a number of other states. By comparison, in the January-March period in 2016, CAIR recorded 19 such incidents.
CAIR recently launched an app to share critical “know your rights” information and simplify the process to report hate crimes and bias incidents and is urging Muslims to download the app and utilize this resource to stay informed and empowered.
For a quick download of CAIR’s civil rights app, click here: http://www.cair.com/app
Community members may also report any bias incidents to CAIR’s Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420, or by filing a report at: http://www.cair.com/report
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.
La misión de CAIR es mejorar la comprensión del Islam, fomentar el diálogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprensión mutua.
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CONTACT: CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell; 404-285-9530; [email protected]; CAIR-Georgia Communications Director Ruwa Romman, 678-697-9684, [email protected]