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Group at center of controversial 'draw Muhammad' contest erects billboards in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS • The group that was attacked by armed assailants in Texas last month for sponsoring a contest to draw the Islamic prophet Muhammad has brought the debate to St. Louis, in the form of what it says are 100 roadside billboards.
The group, American Freedom Defense Initiative, erected the billboards in and around St. Louis as part of a campaign in several parts of the country. Pamela Geller, a conservative activist and the group’s president, said in a public statement that the billboards are a response to “media and the cultural and political elites” refusal to show depictions of Muhammad.
Any image purporting to be that of Muhammad is offensive to many Muslims.
Geller and her organization didn’t respond to emails Thursday seeking information about where the billboards are, and the claim of 100 of them in the area couldn’t be independently confirmed. But the Post-Dispatch did locate and visually confirm two of them Thursday.
The signs say, “Support Free Speech,” and show a line-drawing figure of a bearded man in a turban, presumably Muhammad. The figure is being drawn by a large hand holding a pencil. The man is saying, “You can’t draw me!” The unseen artist is responding, “That’s why I draw you.”
Geller, in her statement, said the image, by “former Muslim Bosch Fawstin,” is the winning cartoon from AFDI’s Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest last month.
That contest, in Garland, Texas, draw international attention after two gunmen opened fire on authorities. The assailants were shot dead by police.
That shooting was followed this month by the fatal police shooting of Usaamah Rahim, after he wielded a knife at law enforcement officers in Boston. Federal authorities on Friday alleged that Rahim and two other men were part of a “terror cell” that planned to behead Geller. The two surviving suspects are in custody facing various charges.
One of the St. Louis billboards is on a desolate section of Banshee Road in Hazelwood, running alongside the airport, with no homes or businesses near it. Another, on the 8000 block of Airport Road in Berkeley, is standing among homes and businesses on the busy street.
That sign was torn and hanging halfway off the structure of the billboard Thursday. It was unclear whether it was torn by wind or vandalism — though local resident Donna Brady said she is certain it was the work of someone trying to “send a message” about the billboards.
“People take their religion very seriously. People die for their religion. That’s the bottom line,” said Brady, who was sitting on the front stoop of a home near the sign on Thursday.
Though Brady is Baptist and has an image of a Bible tattooed on her forearm, she called the sign “offensive,” and expressed anger at the group that erected it.
“It’s called respect,” she said. “How would you feel if they put a dress on the pope? If they put a skirt and high heels on him? People wouldn’t like that, would they? They’re taking this freedom of speech too far now.”
Members of the Cabinet of Interfaith Partnership, which includes 29 faith groups in St. Louis, acknowledged the presence of the billboards and said in a statement Thursday they continue to “work toward equality for all our citizens.”
“As we seek to tear down the racial disparities and prejudices that divide us, we remember a fundamental principle of all of our faith traditions — that we are called to treat others as we wish to be treated,” the members said.
The Muslim Community of Greater St. Louis released a statement saying it “strongly condemns” the billboards, which it called a “repulsive depiction of our faith.”
“AFDI’s activities in St. Louis and elsewhere are Islamophobic and are carried out to affront American Muslims,” the group said, encouraging Muslims here to protest “in a peaceful manner.”
Lilly Fowler and Tim Bryant of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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