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Stop Racist Billboard Campaign

Posted on Thursday December 8, 2005

WASHINGTON – The Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License is launching a new billboard campaign in New Mexico and North Carolina, which contains extremely negative and racist images of Arabs and Arab cultural symbols.

The billboard further enflames the fears of Arab and Muslim Americans as threats to our national security. The Coalition for a Secure Driver’s license misleadingly utilizes false stereotypes and racist rhetoric to push their anti-immigration agenda.

The ad depicts an individual whose face is covered by a Kufiya (the traditional male headdress in some Arab countries,) carrying a hand-grenade and a North Carolina driver’s license. The billboard also features nonsensical Arabic letters that do not form words and two figures in the background wearing military fatigues. The caption reads “Don’t License Terrorists, North Carolina”

The billboard ad uses stereotypical images of Arab men in order to make the point that Arabs are terrorists who may obtain a drivers license in order to plan attacks. At a time when there is already a great misunderstanding of the Arab American community, the Arab American Institute (AAI) believes these ads are irresponsible and racist. They perpetuate the continuing racism and false stereotypes too commonly used for our community .

Billboard below: