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Seattle: Masked Muslims Demand Teacher Who Showed Cartoons Be Fired
Jihad Watch ^ | February 2, 2015 | Robert Spencer, Anti-Jihad Warrior

Posted on 02/03/2015 2:27:42 AM PST by Reverend Saltine

Seattle: Muslims demand teacher be fired for showing Muhammad cartoons

SeattleReWaprotestAnd they may get it, as well. Is this America? The surrender to Sharia norms and collapse of a general understanding of the value of the freedom of speech is happening so rapidly, it’s extraordinary.

“Somali protestors demand teacher resign over Mohammed cartoons,” by Alex Stonehill and Alex Garland, Seattle Globalist, February 1, 2015 (thanks to Refugee Resettlement Watch):

Controversy over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed hit home in Seattle recently, culminating in a protest outside of southend refugee service provider on Friday.

A group of Somali Americans gathered outside the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to demand the resignation of a teacher who showed the cartoons to her teenage students on the day after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.

“We’re not gonna be silent when it’s something that’s not right,” said Hassan Aden, who was one of between 15 to 20 people who attended the protest. “We’re trying to show that we’re not happy with what she did.”

The teacher, Deepa Bhandaru, recently earned her Ph.D from the UW Political Science department, and works for ReWA teaching a free class on world affairs for youth, where she showed the cartoons during a lesson on free speech and religious pluralism.

A post by the Stranger (where Bhandaru has written a number of film reviews and other articles) came to her defense, saying that she’d already sent lengthly [sic] letters of apology to her colleagues at ReWA and to a local mosque attended by some of her Somali students.

Bhandaru told the Stranger she thought the protest organizers were harping on the issue to score political points, and manipulating community members who didn’t speak English fluently. You can read the full post here (warning: the linked page contains a copy of one of the cartoons in questions).

My eyes! My eyes! Get the lye!

When protesters arrived Friday afternoon the ReWA offices were shuttered, with all staff gone for the day, and an official statement taped to the door (posted in full below).

Shahzad Qadri, a member of ReWA’s board of directors said the decision to close was based on fears for the safety of the staff, following incidents of vandalism early in the week.

“A lot of teenagers in our community were very angry and frustrated,” said Fatma Yessef, who attended the protest with her daughter Sumaya. “We told them we have to vent our frustration in a peaceful, nice way and say ‘you cannot do this to our prophet.’”

Like Yessef, many at the protest said they’d lived in the U.S. for decades and emphasized that they embraced American values of freedom of speech and religion. But more than one participant said they felt that showing the cartoons to youth had crossed a line, and insisted that they would only be satisfied if Bhandaru were fired.

Qadri said the decision about Bhandaru’s future at ReWA would be made based on an ongoing internal investigation, the results of which would be public.

“We serve a multicultural group. Seventy percent of our client base is of Muslim descent, and I myself am a practicing Muslim,” he said. “Our goal is never to offend anyone.”

For Yessef, who said she’s know Bhandaru several years, the apologies were too little too late.

“She should respect us as much as we respect her — her religion, her personality,” she said. “I don’t want to disrespect anybody for the way they are…I don’t think it’s free speech to talk about somebody’s religion, somebody’s beloved prophet like that.”ReWaApology


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Education; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: education; islam; islamconspiracy; islamist; jihad; muhammadcartoons; muhammedcartoons; muslim; muslimconspiracy; oregon; schoolconspiracy; seattle; seattleteacher; sharia; shariahconspiracy; somalis
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To: sniper63

41 posted on 02/03/2015 5:44:06 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: TalBlack

Click the pic to link to the full-text Free Republic thread.

42 posted on 02/03/2015 5:44:35 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Reverend Saltine
A group of Somali Americans gathered . . . to demand the resignation of a teacher who showed the cartoons . . .

They are demanding censorship? No, thank you. Those terrorist sympathizers are not Americans in any way. They need to be sent back home to Somalia, where they can rule the way they want to be ruled, and we would be far better off without them.

43 posted on 02/03/2015 8:34:51 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: Reverend Saltine

protested outside a refugee service provider?

how convenient we make it for our own sworn enemies to move and dwell and conspire here.


44 posted on 02/03/2015 9:18:42 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: jmacusa

Hasn’t freedom of speech been ruled to exclude “fighting words?”


45 posted on 02/03/2015 12:42:38 PM PST by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: gundog

Schools can ban the US flag on Cinco de Mayo and bring your kid to a mosque, believe me, these Muslims are going to get their way - leftists always do that


46 posted on 02/03/2015 12:43:53 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GeronL

Up to a point.


47 posted on 02/03/2015 12:46:19 PM PST by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: GeronL

I have a friend in Portland that is a gifted guitar player, and has quite a collection of guitars. I need to work on convincing him that Sharia looks upon his guitars the way lib-weenies look at a rack of M-4’s in a gunshop.


48 posted on 02/03/2015 12:52:02 PM PST by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: gundog

I think you are probably right. I haven’t really thought about it but they don’t they usually oppose any Music not played out of a minaret?


49 posted on 02/03/2015 12:55:17 PM PST by GeronL
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To: maddog55

Funny, anti-pig but looks just like a pig.


50 posted on 02/03/2015 12:56:20 PM PST by Eaker (I'm a glass half-shattered kinda guy.)
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To: GeronL
Note the Ginger Jihadi.
51 posted on 02/03/2015 12:58:24 PM PST by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: Reverend Saltine

ban free speech now!

“Okay, okay, we will”


52 posted on 02/03/2015 1:02:53 PM PST by GeronL
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To: gundog

lol


53 posted on 02/03/2015 1:15:47 PM PST by GeronL
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To: Reno89519

Yep.


54 posted on 02/03/2015 1:50:30 PM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: elcid1970

Yep!


55 posted on 02/03/2015 1:51:00 PM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: gundog
Either any word is free to use or none are. Does that mean one can stand up in a movie theater and yell ''Fire!''? Absolutely. Just be prepared to suffer the consequences if one does.
56 posted on 02/03/2015 3:15:26 PM PST by jmacusa (Liberalism defined: When mom and dad go away for the weekend and the kids are in charge.)
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