South suburban high school hit with hate graffiti

There has been a rash of threats against local Muslims in the first two months of this year, including hate graffiti scrawled on the bathroom stalls of a south suburban high school, according to the Chicago Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“All Islam will be killed in this school,” “Kill the Arabs,” “F— the Arabs” and “Death to the Islamic people,” were among graffiti found at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park.

Parents found out about it in early February and complained to school officials, but no action was taken until CAIR sent a letter to the school, the organization said Friday at a news conference.

“The school did not go on lockdown . . . parents were not notified,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR. Rehab said the reaction might have been different if the graffiti had said “Let’s kill all blacks or let’s kill all Jews.”

“We believe that security protocols of schools ought to include a soft or hard lockdown when there is such a serious threat against the safety of the students, and parents ought to be notified immediately,” Rehab said.

Leena Yousef, mother of a 14-year-old freshman, said she found out about the graffiti from students and other parents.

“I’ve received phone calls in the past for traffic issues happening in front of the school, and for me not to be notifed about something this serious, it’s not fair.”

She called a dean to complain and “Was so belittled, I couldn’t even finish the conversation,” Yousef said. “He told me my kid was safe and that there was nothing to worry about.”

But after CAIR sent a letter Feb. 6, the school went on a “soft” lockdown for two days, CAIR officials said.

In a statement, the school confirmed the lockdown and added that a phone call and email were sent to families informing them of the graffiti.

The schools said the graffiti “incidents were immediately reported to Orland Park Police Department,” but that specific details could not be released because of an ongoing investigation.

Other anti-Muslim incidents reported to CAIR included: a threatening letter sent to a mosque in Lake in the Hills that read: “We are praying for a civil war so we can start shooting you slime bags;” a man driving a car who shouted obscenities and waved a gun at a woman wearing Islamic attire in Palos Park; death threats on Facebook targeting the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview.

Rehab said the rash of incidents was probably prompted by terrorist events, but said, “Don’t lash out at innocent individuals thinking that they’re part of the same enemy that you’re watching on television do crazy things because they follow the same faith.”

He said that within Christianity and other faiths, “you have people who live ordinary lives and you have people who act out in evil fashion. You don’t ever want to lash out at anybody in a vigilante fashion, certainly not people who are innocent.”