Poster linking Rep. Ilhan Omar to 9/11 sparks outrage, injuries in W.Va. state Capitol

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Poster linking Rep. Ilhan Omar to 9/11 sparks outrage, injuries in W.Va. state Capitol

By Eli Rosenberg March 2 at 10:42 AM

Friday was a day meant to celebrate the Republican Party in the West Virginia Capitol. But a poster connecting a Muslim congresswoman to the 9/11 terrorist attacks led to heated emotions, caused the resignation of at least one staff member and left another reportedly injured when things got physical as the altercation spilled into the chamber of the West Virginia House of Delegates.

The poster, at a table in the Capitol’s rotunda, featured an image of freshmen Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) underneath one of the New York’s twin towers burning.

“'Never forget’ — You said,” read text placed over the photo of the World Trade Center.

“I am the proof you have forgotten,” read the caption over Omar’s image.

Omar, one of the first two Muslim congresswoman ever elected, has been the target of Islamophobic smears since she took office this year.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/02/poster-linking-rep-ilhan-omar-sparks-outrage-injuries-wva-state-capitol/

[Roland99]

1. Both sides are the same?

Fuck that noise

[suffragette]

2. Telling that on the same day Trump announces executive order demanding colleges allow

“free speech” from people who continually spout hate speech, at least one West Virginian Republican there defended that racist and slanderous poster as free speech.

From the WAPO link above:

But no Republican delegates condemned the poster, Pushkin said. “I’m really disappointed that not a single Republican elected official in this building could join me in saying it’s wrong,” he said.

Many Republicans got up to speak about the First Amendment in response, according to West Virginia Public Radio.

“My issue with what I saw outside has to do with another truly American foundational issue, and that’s freedom of speech," Republican Del. Dianna Graves said, West Virginia Public Radio reported. “So, while I may not agree with everything that is out there, I do agree that freedom of speech is something that we have to protect, even if we don’t agree with it.”

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. free speech goes 2 ways

The answer to objectionable speech is more speech, therefore
we are free to call the GOPers out for their racism and hypocrisy.

[suffragette]

4. A problem is that Trump and crew bring this up in a false way. They yell that schools like Berkeley

are suppressing free speech. True that the conservative was punched while at Berkeley. But the fact that Berkeley allowed him on campus to spout his BS demonstrates that Berkeley was allowing his free speech, not suppressing it.