‘Muslim free’ sign draws concern

 

Jeb Wallace-Brodeur / Staff Photo Troy Maxham stands Wednesday with a sign he tacked to the outside of his Roxbury home.

ROXBURY — A resident has put up a “Muslim Free Zone” sign on the outside of his home, and officials say there’s nothing they can do about it as it’s considered free speech.

Troy Maxham tacked the sign onto his Roxbury home very close to Route 12A a couple of weeks ago because he says he doesn’t trust Muslims. Maxham, who claims he’s served in the U.S. Army in the past, said he doesn’t believe “towelheads,” a racial slur against someone wearing a turban, should be allowed to take over the United States.

Also, he said he believes President Barack Obama is a Muslim. Obama has said publicly that he’s Christian.

Maxham, a self-described supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, said he will leave the cardboard sign up until it rots away, and then he’ll replace it with another.

He argued he is protected under the First Amendment, regardless of what others think of his message.

Regina Logan of Braintree said she is offended by the sign. In a letter to the editor submitted to The Times Argus, Logan said she was appalled and ashamed a Vermonter would put up such a sign.

“While the sign is on private property, it is in public view, and its message is in direct conflict with the values we as Americans are supposed to hold dear,” she wrote.

Roxbury Town Clerk Tammy Legacy said town officials were recently made aware of the sign, and it was also discussed at town meeting last week. Legacy said the Select Board agreed the sign falls under free speech as it’s displayed on private property.

Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the civil rights and advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations, agreed with Legacy that there isn’t much that can be done. Hooper said all that can be done is to try education and outreach for individuals involved to help them learn more about Islam and Muslims. He said the goal is to get them to interact with ordinary American Muslims.

“Our research has shown that when people know more about Islam or when they interact with ordinary Muslims, prejudice goes down,” Hooper said.

Some businesses around the country have tried to make their properties “Muslim free zones” but those companies can be sued for discrimination. One such lawsuit was brought against a gun store in Florida last year, but a federal judge dismissed the suit in November stating there were no facts presented that would show that Muslims would be harmed by the ban.

Hooper said anti-Muslim incidents have gone way up over the past few months, since attacks by the so-called Islamic State in Paris in November left 130 people dead, and a Muslim couple went on a shooting spree, killing 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., in early December.

Recently, a Buddhist monk was reportedly attacked in Washington state because someone thought he was Muslim. In New Jersey, a group of female Muslim college students were spat at and received racial slurs by a man on a train.

“This is just systemic of the unprecedented rise in anti-Muslim bigotry nationwide,” Hooper said. “In large part due to the mainstreaming of Islamophobia by public figures like Donald Trump and Ben Carson and others.”

Trump has been the most vocal of the presidential candidates when it comes to talking about Muslims, including his calling for a ban on Muslims traveling to the U.S. out of fear that the travelers might be terrorists.

Hooper said people need to call on the nation’s leaders to repudiate bigotry. He said coalitions need to be formed with like-minded organizations to speak out against Islamophobia.

Hooper said Obama has taken some public actions recently, such as visiting a Baltimore mosque last month.

“But maybe it’s too little, too late,” he said.

When told that his sign could be seen by some as offensive, Maxham said he didn’t care. “If they don’t like it, they can kiss my American ass,” he said.