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Muslim Civil Liberties Group Publishes Caller's Islamophobic Message

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations posted online an Islamophobic voicemail they received over the weekend.

The caller, who claimed to be calling from Mountain View and named Daniel Ryman, had a Florida phone number, according a council employee.

The caller spent about a minute hurling anti-Muslim insults at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest American Muslim civil rights advocacy organization in the United States.

In the voicemail, the caller says he'd like to know "where you're going to attack in the United States next..." and after calling the council terrorists, he goes on to say, "I think that we should ban all non-American Muslims from entering the United States and if it were up to me, I would ban all American Muslims as well."

The council posted the audio to SoundCloud along with this message:

"Thank you Daniel Ryman for reminding us of the very real threat of anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia. We know where you got the idea to ban Muslims from and are also confident it doesn't withstand Constitutional muster. Still, you have reinvigorated our commitment to advocating for civil rights for all Americans. We will not let hate divide or intimidate us."

 

CAIR-San Francisco Bay Area received the voicemail on Sunday and told CBS San Francisco on Tuesday, roughly an hour after they posted the audio online, that their office does not plan to call the man back.

The 2016 CAIR California Civil Rights Report found that the number of reports of bias incidents against Muslims in California spiked by 58 percent between 2014 (115 reports) and 2015 (197 reports). In the report, the council attributes the increase to "public hostility generated by international acts of violence and hateful rhetoric utilized by candidates since the start of the election cycle."

By Hannah Albarazi - Follow her on Twitter: @hannahalbarazi.

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