The organizers of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Veterans Day parade think a group remembering the Confederacy is too controversial, but the radical Muslim group CAIR is okay.
The group “Confederate Veterans Lives Matter” applied to be a part of Wednesday’s parade, flying their Confederate flags, but the organizing committee denied their request, News On 6 reports.
“Just a regular old float, have the Confederate flag up there like we have mounted on our trucks, and have some people on the float, and wave our flags and have some visibility,” Confederate group Arlene Barnum says, describing the presentation of the float.
Parade organizers rejected Barnum’s request, saying it was submitted too late and the event doesn’t allow “any group that pushes its own personal agenda.”
Organizers deemed Confederate Veterans Lives Matter “is a political message in itself.”
But parade organizers are allowing the Council on American Islamic Relations, a group critics say is closely aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.
“It’s something we have been wanting to do for years,” Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of CAIR tells the Tulsa World.
“We support all veterans, and we support our country, so I don’t see why anyone should have any concerns about CAIR being involved,” he says.
But that may necessarily not be true.
Pamela Geller noted earlier this year, San Francisco Bay Area CAIR Executive Director Zahra Billoo “struggles with Memorial Day each year. How does one balance being pretty staunchly anti-war while honoring those who died in the military?”
Billoo also tweeted a quote by CAIR head Dawud Walid, saying, “If one dies in an unjust war in which we illegally invaded and occupied a sovereign nation, should that person be honored?”
No word on whether than quote will be featured on CAIR’s Tulsa parade float.
Geller, incidentally, labels CAIR a “terrorist organization.”
The controversy isn’t lost on America-loving activists participating in the parade.
Larry Williamson, a member of the Tulsa 912 Project, says it is “atrocious” to ask veterans to “march alongside people who represent our enemies in a current war,” according to the World.
“I believe all American entrants who the parade is intended to honor should be made aware as soon as possible that they are being asked to share their honor with the Muslim Brotherhood, sworn enemy of the United States and our ally Israel and an enemy in our current war on the Islamic jihad in which American soldiers are fighting and dying,” Williamson says.
“I’m not a spokesman for Tulsa 912, but I won’t march alongside the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Patsy Varnell, vice president of the Tulsa Veterans Day Parade Association, confirmed CAIR will be participating.
“The parade is nonreligious,” she tells the paper.
As for the Confederate Veterans Lives Matter group, they plan to file a complaint with the city, alleging discrimination.
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