“Racist” signs expose racist signs

Signs saying “racist” are being posted on, but not covering, ads that are, well, racist. Anti-Islamic advertisements are now gracing New York City’s subway system after a federal judge ruled that the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) could not legally refuse to display the signs because they expressed “demeaning” language. The ads say “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad” and are the creation of American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), an organization considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center watch group. Pamela Geller, the executive director of AFDI is so Islamophobic, that the very “pro”-Israel Anti-Defamation League says she “fuels and fosters anti-Muslim bigotry in society.” She campaigned to shut down an award-winning museum exhibit in Washington D.C., which highlighted Muslim contributions to science because it “has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of children into a rosy and romanticized view of Islam that makes them less appreciative of their own culture’s achievements and more complacent about Islamization in the West.” Pamela Geller may oppose freedom when it comes to something that reflects real history and culture, but she’s all about her freedom to distort and demean, and said “I will not abridge my freedoms so as not to offend savages.”

Interestingly,  the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the ads but supported the court’s decision. CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper explained,

Our basic position is that the first amendment means that everyone is free to be a bigot or even an idiot like Pamela Geller…. We wish she wasn’t provoking and inciting hatred, but in America that’s her right….  We encourage Muslims to exercise the same right to publicly denounce such adverts. The real danger is the spread of hatred in our society, which can lead to attacks on innocent people.

People are using their own free speech– without violating anyone else’s– to fight back against these ads without removing or covering them up. They are applying signs that say “RACIST” or “hate speech.” Mondo Weiss reports that at least seven ads in seven subway stations have been “altered.” Check out the photos here. What a great way to condemn hatred and respect free speech!