Anti-Islamic Group Clashes With KKK Over Gays And Guns

‘It’s not like we’re racist, homophobic bigots,’ says a spokesman for gun-toting mosque protesters.

In a bizarre twist, a gun-toting hate group of anti-Islamists is refusing to partner with the Ku Klux Klan in part because the white supremacist organization is too homophobic. 

The Bureau on American Islamic Relations, a loosely-formed anti-Islamic organization, staged an armed rally outside a mosque in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas, on Nov. 21 — in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. 

Among those who attended the rally were two representatives from the Texas Rebel Knights, a KKK chapter, who reportedly were scouting the location for an upcoming protest of their own. But David Wright, a spokesman for the Bureau on American Islamic Relations, said his group declined to participate in the planned KKK rally.  

“It’s not like we’re racist, homophobic bigots,” Wright told The Dallas Morning News. “We just have a certain level of distrust for certain Islamic people.”

Wright added that his group is refusing to partner with KKK members — who now plan to don their trademark white hoods at an anti-Islamic rally outside Irving City Hall in May — because the Bureau on American Islamic Relations includes blacks, Hispanics and gays, according to the Morning News. 

Meanwhile, the “Imperial Wizard” of the KKK chapter is likewise disavowing the tactics of the Bureau on American Islamic Relations, whose members wielded long guns at last month’s rally — for self-defense and not intimidation, they claim.  

“We want a peaceful event. No weapons,” the anonymous Imperial Wizard said. 

The rift between the two hate groups highlights Irving’s — and more broadly Texas’ — emergence as an epicenter in the national debate over Islamic acceptance and admitting Syrian refugees to the US. 

Following the armed rally, the Bureau on American Islamic Relations posted on its Facebook page the names and addresses of local Muslims who spoke earlier this year against an anti-Islamic measure approved by the Irving City Council. The council, led by xenophobic Mayor Beth Van Duyne, voted to back a proposed state law banning “Shariah” courts. 

In September, Irving police arrested 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, saying they thought a homemade clock the Muslim teen had brought to school was a hoax bomb. Mohamed’s family has since demanded $15 million in damages from the city and the school district.  

In the wake of last month’s armed rally, hundreds of counterprotesters gathered last weekend for a “Rally of Love” to show their support for the mosque, called the Islamic Center of Irving. The counterprotesters plan to return Dec. 12, the original date of the KKK rally that has since been rescheduled for May. Also on Dec. 12, the Bureau on American Islamic Relations plans an armed protest outside another mosque in nearby Richardson. 

On Wednesday, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a tea partier, sued the federal government and a refugee resettlement group in an effort to block Syrian refugees from coming to the state. A family of Syrian refugees had been scheduled to arrive in Dallas on Friday, but was diverted to New York to await a judge’s initial ruling in the lawsuit. 

We’re assuming the Bureau on American Islamic Relations will also refuse to work with Paxton and other Texas Republicans given their extremist anti-gay views. 

 

Image: Screenshot via KDFW