CHARLOTTE, NC — The head of the Islamic Center of Charlotte is speaking out after the center received a letter threatening physical violence against Muslims. According to the center’s director Jibril Hough, the letter was just one of several sent to Islamic centers around North Carolina.
Hough called the letter a “pretty detailed threat” and said the threat was serious enough that Charlotte police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are now investigating the letter.
The letter, according to Hough, came from a person who claimed to be “part of a large network of folks from the business community, from the public services community, from the public school community that is seeking to make life harder on the public square for Muslims.”
Hough says he contacted authorities about the letter on Friday and the FBI was already investigating because of letters sent to other Islamic centers across the state. Hough says he knows the center in Raleigh received the same letter and hopes it will get the same attention as if it was any other house of worship.
Hough says it isn’t unusual for the center to get, what he calls, “minor threats” based on current events, but this letter appears to be more serious.
“It goes on to give some very derogatory and racial epitaphs, using the ‘N’ word a couple of times in different phrases, Hough says. “And then it ends with the threat that if we decide for any kind of retaliation based on this letter – that they have no problem killing Muslims legally, if we tried anything, so consider yourselves advised.”
The letter ends, in part, “We are prepared for the Muslim war that is going on overseas to begin in the streets right here.”
See also “CAIR seeks hate crime probe of threats sent to N.C. mosques”, CAIR press release, 24 April 2012