Tennessee Tea Partiers Against Islamophobia
Politics. Bedfellows. Strange.
Such a great and unusual story:
Coley began doing Tea Party outreach in Florida in 2009. He started as an ordinary Tea Party activist, concerned about economics and allegedly growing government power.
But his concern at what he saw as the emergence of Islamophobia in the Tea Party movement spurred him to act.
"I was watching the neocon takeover happen," says Coley. "Literally overnight I saw groups devoted to economics and constitutional limits turn into something else. Suddenly there were invites to see anti-Islam speakers. This crazy anti-Islam message was taking over."
...
The sudden announcement in the press of anti-sharia legislation in the Tennessee House and Senate changed everything.
"[We] changed the format of the Islam Awareness lectures at the library. Since sharia had become the issue, we decided to devote each week to covering a different area or aspect of sharia," says Coley. "We invited two Tea Party groups. One cursed at me, called me names and said I was Muslim and therefore they had no interest in speaking to me or hearing anything my 'lying mouth' had to say. The other invited other Tea Party groups."
"After the lectures, these Tea Party groups took our information home with them. We offered paper, pens, and wrote notes on the board. Then there was a meeting of all the East Tennessee tea party groups, fourteen in all, and they had a vote. 12/2 was the vote, to abandon attacking Islam as a tactic."
See? Idiots don't have to be assholes.
Such a great and unusual story:
Coley began doing Tea Party outreach in Florida in 2009. He started as an ordinary Tea Party activist, concerned about economics and allegedly growing government power.
But his concern at what he saw as the emergence of Islamophobia in the Tea Party movement spurred him to act.
"I was watching the neocon takeover happen," says Coley. "Literally overnight I saw groups devoted to economics and constitutional limits turn into something else. Suddenly there were invites to see anti-Islam speakers. This crazy anti-Islam message was taking over."
...
The sudden announcement in the press of anti-sharia legislation in the Tennessee House and Senate changed everything.
"[We] changed the format of the Islam Awareness lectures at the library. Since sharia had become the issue, we decided to devote each week to covering a different area or aspect of sharia," says Coley. "We invited two Tea Party groups. One cursed at me, called me names and said I was Muslim and therefore they had no interest in speaking to me or hearing anything my 'lying mouth' had to say. The other invited other Tea Party groups."
"After the lectures, these Tea Party groups took our information home with them. We offered paper, pens, and wrote notes on the board. Then there was a meeting of all the East Tennessee tea party groups, fourteen in all, and they had a vote. 12/2 was the vote, to abandon attacking Islam as a tactic."
See? Idiots don't have to be assholes.