Is a local group called “The Pledge Project,” led by a woman named “Miss Information,” spreading hate literature and, ironically enough, misinformation regarding various aspects of Islam?
It would seem to be the case, and this news website has already been targeted by the campaign of falsehoods about Muslims, Sharia law and the politics of the Middle East.
Upon returning to the offices of Red Dirt Report, following lunch earlier today, your humble correspondent was informed by his assistant that a woman had stopped by and taped a flyer to the door which explained “What the Bible says about Jesus / What the Qur’an says about Muhammad.”
Essentially the sheet had two columns, contrasting the two religious leaders of two of the large Abrahamic faiths in the world. And on the flipside of the flyer there are statements that say things including “This neighborhood will never be Sharia Compliant,” “Palestine is not a country, it is a terrorist organization,” and “Why did President Obama congratulate the president of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, on his record of peace?”
Contacting Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK), we inquired on whether he was familiar with this flyer and what was being shared, particularly in light of statements we had reported on yesterday while covering a political event sponsored by the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee.
At the OCPAC event, U.S. Rep. James Lankford, who is running for Tom Coburn’s Senate seat, told an audience of 200 that Sharia law “should be prohibited” and insinuated it is dangerous, likely inciting more reactionary elements in the audience to possibly take action against American Muslims.
As it turned out, Soltani informed us, his office has experienced several harried visits by the same “Miss Information” who dropped off similar, poorly-written, anti-Muslim hate flyers – complete with her email address stamped on the leaflets.
And while Soltani had not spoken to the woman, his assistant, Thomaira Babbit, had seen her twice this month – both times on a Thursday.
Stopping by CAIR-OK’s Oklahoma City office, we talked to Babbit, and she said the middle-aged woman wearing workout clothes would not give her her name.
“I tried to get her to sit down and talk, but she wasn’t having any of that,” she told Red Dirt Report.
The woman – Miss Information – asked Babbit why she was working here, told Babbit that she “didn’t look like someone who should be working here” and also told the religiously unaffiliated CAIR employee that she was a “bad Christian.”
“I told her ‘Ma’am, I’m not a Christian either.’ I think my saying that scared her off,” Babbit said.
Babbit said Miss Information’s flyers, which also included an alleged letter from a “former Muslim” claiming that Muslims are conspiring to destroy infidels in America and the West.
Babbit said this is the first hate letter she has received at the CAIR office and added that the information provided therein is “false” and “not based in actual facts.”
Babbit said Soltani, who was out of the office Thursday, has informed local imam, Dr. Imad Enchassi, about the letters and it turns out that similar “Miss Information” letters have been showing up around the Grand Mosque of Oklahoma City on NW 48th Street.
This time last year, Oklahoma City’s Grand Mosque was the target of vandals who spray painted racial slurs and derogatory symbols on the building. Considered a hate crime, the FBI was involved in that investigation.
Red Dirt Report has sent an email to Miss Information and “The Pledge Project” in hopes of securing an interview.