“HOW TO WINK AT A MUSLIM”
That is the message that?Coffee County, Tenn. Commissioner Barry West posted on his?Facebook?page on Saturday. The status was accompanied by the image below.
Islamic advocacy groups have called for an apology, but West has not yet been forthcoming with one. Remziya Suleyman, Director of Policy and Administraion for Muslim non-profit group American Center for Outreach, said that West’s behavior is unacceptable.
“This is unacceptable to be posted by anyone, let alone an elected official. Such actions do incite hate, do incite actions of violence against communities,” Remziya Suleyman, Director of Policy and Administration for the American Center for Outreach told Nashville’s News 2.?”I think he is responsible for what he posts and no, it is not a joke, this isn’t something to laugh about,” Suleyman said.
Council board member Drost Kokoye said that West’s Facebook post is frightening.
“Regardless of whether you have Muslim constituents or not, you shouldn’t post this,” she said. “A shotgun with a wink behind it? I feel threatened. This is not OK.”?(Tennessean)
Kokoye pointed to the the alleged suicide (?) of a falsely accused Muslim man in the days following the Boston Marathon bombing as an example of how hate can go too far.
Coffee County Mayor David Pennington believes his county is hospitable, however.
“I don’t have control on what a commissioner does when he leaves the commission meeting,” Pennington said. “What one commissioner did, I don’t think you could judge the whole county by that. I have no idea why he did it.”?(Tennessean)
Pennington offered an apology of sorts on behalf of the county.
“Even though I had nothing to do with it as Coffee County Mayor, I would like to apologize to the Muslim community,” said Pennington. He continued,?”Once a commissioner leaves this building, he’s on his own as a commissioner and we have no control at all over what a commissioner does,” Pennington explained. (WKRN)
He plans to instruction commissioners at the next meeting that they need to practice caution as to what they post on Facebook, but says that there is no official action he can take against West. I’ll just bet he does. The image and status have been removed by West, of course.
Want to contact Mr. West and the powers that be about this issue?
West
Phone number: (931)728-9402
Email: [email protected]
Coffee County Mayor David Pennington:?
Phone number: (931) 723-5100
Email: [email protected]
The contact info for West and Pennington was provided by The Christian Left Facebook page. Don’t try to add him on Facebook. He may report you. Not that I would know from first-hand knowledge (wink).
Editor: TW
