Ketron distributes anti-Muslim DVD to win backing for bill
Sen. Bill Ketron has distributed a DVD to his fellow senators that claims Nashville Muslims radicalized a Memphis man who shot an Army recruiter after converting to Islam.
Ketron said the video shows why his Material Support for Designated Entities Act, which gives law enforcement officials in Tennessee the power to declare a person or group a terrorist organization, is needed.
The video makes many claims that are vague or misleading, and local Muslims say it shows that Ketron’s bill is targeted at them, despite his statements to the contrary.
The 16-minute video titled “Losing our Community” was produced by the Boston-based Americans for Peace and Tolerance and the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.
It focuses on members of the Islamic Center of Nashville, where Abdulhakim Muhammad, who was born Carlos Bledsoe, worshipped for a time while he was a student at Tennessee State University. Muhammad later shot and killed a soldier at a military recruiting center in Arkansas, saying his actions were justified because U.S. soldiers were killing Muslims in the Middle East.
See also “Smear tactics behind terror bill”, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 19 May 2011

George Orwell used the term double speak in his book 1984. When I was young I could not imagine how that would work in real life. A few years ago I noticed it for the first time and I have seen it more and more since then. Americans for Peace and Tolerance: Tennessee Freedom, Coalition simply use ideas we all support to cover ideas that none of us should support. I mean what good American could be against the Patriot Act. Its very name implies that not to support it is un-American. How does one not want peace and tolerence and why would you oppose an organization whose primary purpose is stated in their name? Its crazy, but for people who only read the first 2-4 lines of any lengthy reading material it is perfect.
21 May 2011 at 8:05 pm