It’s not your average coloring book that depicts the burning Twin Towers and the killing of Osama bin Laden. We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids’ Book of Freedom does just that, and much more, in an attempt to “educate.”
But some U.S. Muslims are expressing anger over the book, claiming that it characterizes all Muslims as linked to terrorism.
The most unsettling drawing shows a Navy SEAL shooting at bin Laden, who seems to be hiding behind a niqab-wearing woman. The text on this page reads, “Children, the truth is, these terrorist acts were done by freedom-hating radical Islamic Muslim extremists. These crazy people hate the American way of life because we are FREE and our society is FREE.”
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It has been reported that the phrase “radical Islamic Muslim extremists” is used 10 times in the book.
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, expressed concern that the book will give children the idea that all Muslims are “somewhat responsible” for 9/11. “We think it would have been more responsible if the language would not have been such that every time Muslim was used it’s radical, extremist, terrorist,” he told the Guardian.
Wayne Bell, who heads the book’s Missouri-based publisher Really Big Coloring Books, responded by saying everything in the book is “absolutely factual.” “The book was built to educate, not to offend,” Bell told Fox News.
The company says it has sold out of its first print run of 10,000 copies and is printing new books everyday to keep up with demand. It also previously published a coloring book about the Tea Party, which Bell had said was outselling another one he published about Obama. (via Guardian)
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