act! for america minneapolis chapter anti-muslim handout complied by debbie anderson
DESCRIPTION
At Brigitte Gabriel's speech at the Mankato City Center (a private venue), Act! for America Minneapolis Chapter Leader Debbie Anderson distributed four handouts.This one, in which Anderson's links her horrific vision of Islam with Somali-American political organizing for the upcoming elections in the fall, draws mostly on news reports for information, while drawing interpretation only from Islamophobic bloggers and online sources.She writes of her view of "Islam's.1400 year history of Imperialism, land appropriation, genocide, cultural annihilation, and enslavement" while deploring any effort to brand Islam as a religion of peace. Anderson is deeply alarmed that American citizens of Somali descent are exercising their constitutional rights to assemble, participate in elections, and to exercise their faith. Additionally, she is fearful of interfaith gatherings of Christians and Muslims.News reports note that the Mankato event sponsors, the Southern Minnesota Tea Party, was contacted by ACT! with a request to help organize the Gabriel appearance. Anderson's handouts do not appear to reflect the view of the local sponsors, but are written over her signature as ACT! Minneapolis Chapter Leader.The Mankato Free Press reported:"... the area Tea Party "considers the vast majority of followers of Islam to be good and decent people," said Andy Johnson, a local Tea Party organizer.The Tea Party leaders told the New Ulm Journal:"Tea Party organizers said representatives from CAIR's Minnesota branch attended the speech until Gabriel started accusing CAIR, and they had cordial conversation with the organizers about their concerns. The organizers said they would be open to host an event on moderate Muslims, but would need to know they could get a big enough turnout."CAIR-MN had objected to Gabriel's Little Falls appearance the day before being located at a public high school, but explicitly raised no objections to the Mankato event as it was held in a private venue. Both events were open to the public.TRANSCRIPT
