US store displays racist, Islamophobic and ‘Kill-Obama’ signs

Team Udayavani, Jan 3, 2017, 11:45 AM IST

Washington: A convenience store in southern US state of New Mexico is under fire for displaying dozens of controversial racist signs targeting outgoing President Barack Obama, Muslims and African-Americans, media reported on Monday.

The Mayhill Convenience Store in Mayhill, New Mexico, has displayed outrageous signs like “Kill Obama” and “Obama and Muslims not welcome here” for years and have even sold these signs to customers.

The store also targeted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the presidential elections in November, local news portal KOB reported.

Another star targeted in the controversial signboards was NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who famously protested against police violence against black people by kneeling during the US national anthem.

The sign-board called Kaepernick an “overpaid half breed” who should “go back to Africa”.

Some signs compared Obama to toilet paper, and one read “Obama loves the USA like OJ Simpson loved Nicole.”

Another read: “Russia has a leader, Al Qaida has a leader. Where the hell is ours?”

The news portal reported the store is currently up for sale for $359,000.

However, the facility was now facing growing calls to take down these controversial signs.

Many people took to Facebook to express their horror and anger at the racist and Islamophobic signs.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim-rights group in the country, also issued a statement urging the store owner to remove the signs.

“While everyone has the First Amendment right to free speech – even offensive speech – we urge the store’s owner to remove the sign in the interest of common decency and of our nation’s unity at a time of increasing divisions,” said Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s national communications director.

CAIR said there were more than 900 anti-Muslim incidents after Donald Trump was elected US President in November last year.