(LOS ANGELES, CA – 4/10/2019) – The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today strongly condemned the xenophobic Facebook posts made by Yucaipa Mayor Bobby Duncan targeting Muslims and migrants from South America and called on him to resign from his post.
According to the Riverside Press Enterprise, Duncan has multiple posts on his Facebook wall with memes with anti-Islamic and anti-undocumented immigrant messages.
On April 3, he shared a meme that read: “I don’t know about you, but I am 100% anti-Islam and anti-Sharia! Who else is with me and feels the same way?”
On April 1, he posted two memes:
- “Stop all welfare to illegal aliens and they’ll deport themselves”
- “Islamophobic: A bulls— term invented to vilify and silence anyone being honest about mankind’s most violent supremacist culture.”
On March 29, he shared a meme that read: “How do you walk 3,000 miles through Mexico ‘without food or support’ and wind up at the border 100 lbs overweight and with cell phones?”
READ: Critics slam Yucaipa mayor’s Facebook posts targeting Muslims, undocumented immigrants
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said:
“It is extremely alarming that this Islamophobic, bigoted material would be found on the Facebook wall belonging to an elected official. This man was elected to be a public servant, but instead he is demonizing members of his constituency. The current trend of normalizing hate speech in the Trump era – especially from people in leadership positions – has emboldened bigots in their speech, as well as their actions.
“Less than a month ago, 50 people were massacred in mosques in New Zealand by a white supremacist espousing similar troupes. Two weeks ago, our recent Valley Banquet in Woodland Hills received bomb threats and over the weekend a man was arrested for threatening the life of one of the first two American Muslim women elected to Congress. Mayor Duncan must apologize for his xenophobia, but more importantly, he must resign from the Yucaipa City Council.”
CAIR-LA is Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Manager Eugene W. Fields, 714-776-1847 or efields@cair.com