Rebukes and calls to defund San Jose police are intensifying after racist Facebook postings were exposed in recent days.
“I am incredibly disappointed to have learned that local police officers were engaged in vile, horrifying online content,” Zahra Billoo said.
Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations, says she is shocked but not surprised that bigoted and anti-Muslim Facebook posts have been linked to current and former San Jose police officers.
“It’s hard to be, when we are at a moment in our country when we continue to learn just how deeply entrenched racism is in modern day policing,” Billoo said.
Billoo says the posts, one of which suggested using hijabs as nooses, calls to mind previous allegations of anti-Muslim sentiment by a Muslim officer who sued the department in 2018.
“What this confirms for me is that it may not be safe for someone who looks like me to call on them to protect me,” Billoo said.