Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal along with analyst Steve Emerson and others at Fox News have been almost universally shamed and criticized for making unfounded claims of “Muslim no-go zones” spreading throughout Europe, places which, according to the two men, are off-limits to non-Muslims.
Turns out Jindal and Emerson were looking in the wrong place. Muslim no-go zones are real, or, at least, there are people who want to make them real, though not in the way Jindal and Emerson claimed. Given what happened at the Capitol in Austin this morning, far-right activists and politicians do in fact want Muslim no-go zones, just as long as they’re the kind where Muslims aren’t allowed to go.
They want that no-go zone to be Texas.
What happened inside and outside the Capitol Thursday morning was — let’s just say it — disgusting, and it comes a couple of weeks after another similar incident in Garland.
Today was Texas Muslim Capitol Day, the seventh such celebration in which Texas Muslims visit their elected officials to advocate for, among other things, police accountability and religious freedom. As Texas Muslims were gathering outside the Capitol building, so was a small group of protesters. And then this kind of bigotry and anti-Muslim hysteria started happening.
The woman grabbing the mic was identified as Christene Weick of Michigan, who apparently came to Texas to tell Texas Muslims at the Texas Capitol to “go home.” Yeah, OK.
Things just got uglier from there. When Muslim children started singing the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the protesters shouted “Islam is a lie.” Someone else responded to the singing with “there’s no ‘twilight’ in sharia!”
And then this was said to a clerk for the Dallas Morning News:
Anti-Muslim protestor to @BeeDotMartin: "you're skin be white, but you shame America."
— David Saleh Rauf (@davidSrauf) January 29, 2015
Our friends at Progress Texas point out that this kind of sickening incident doesn’t happen on accident. It takes extremist politicians spreading misinformation and stirring up fear.
Which brings us to what happened before the Muslim rally, inside the Capitol.
Freshman state Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, was not in Austin today, but she left instructions for her staff. First, she left an Israeli flag at her Capitol office. If any Muslims came by, White told her staff to ask them “to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws.” And if they didn’t, they could leave.
“We will see how long they stay in my office,” White said.
By the afternoon, White was Internet-famous and already (kind of) backpedaling. She issued this statement, according to the Texas Tribune:
As law-abiding American citizens, we all have the privilege and the right to freedom of speech granted to us by the First Amendment. As a proud Texan and American I fully denounce all terrorist groups or organizations who’s [sic] intent is to hurt and destroy the great state of Texas and our nation.
To be clear, Texas shouldn’t be a no-go zone for anyone. Texans should welcome people of any and all faiths, or those who choose to practice no faith at all. That’s what proud Texans and Americans are supposed to do.
These idiots do not realize or care that all three “belief” systems, Judaism, Christianity and Islam revere Abraham and their own and moreover the Koran mentions Jesus 47-times and Mary is the ONLY woman mentioned in the entire volume. All three spring from the same place and all three worship the same god. Furthermore, “Allah” is simply god in Arabic. It’s funny and fun as an outsider and practitioner of none to watch all three go at each others throat; quite entertaining in fqact.
if I was a native born Texan I would denounce my citizenship. I would never ever want to be associated with the greatest collection of willful idiots on the planet. It clearly demonstrates that “Civics” in Texas was elective course run by fundamental Christians. This supposed women demonstrates in this country there exists a Christian American Taliban that is just as dangerous as ISIS. QUESTION, how long before those shouting and screaming their stupidity of everything real Americans believe in start shooting people dead in the streets if they don’t believe your believe in Jesus? I afraid it won’t be long!
Christine Weick has been reported as an activist obsessed by the “end times” who travels around the country demonstrating her beliefs.
She’s also not a big fan of Monster Energy Drinks because, you know, satan.
Satan sells soft drinks
I’ve known too many Christians who were really fine people to know that that woman does not represent anything in Christianity.
I’ve known some Muslims who are similarly fine people and wonderful citizens.
I’m NOT a Christian nor am I a Muslim, but that woman needs to get some psychiatric help to overcome her bigotry.
The so-called religious right is anything but Christian; they wish to overturn the civil rights legislation by claiming to have religious beliefs that permit them to hate people who are not them.
God save us!
Go home?
Texas Muslims ARE home in Texas.
And they will stay here, along with the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, atheists, and all our other neighbors.
The bigoted State Rep ought to be made to tour the dozens of mosques in Houston and Dallas. And Hindu temples. And Buddhist Temples. And Jewish synagogues. Immediately. See how SHE likes being a religious minority.
There’s a whole bunch of Texas she doesn’t have a clue about.
It’s funny to watch idiots make stupid remarks.There’s a few bad eggs in every religion