Nearby Store Under Fire for Selling Muslim Terrorist Greeting Card

A North Side store is facing harsh criticism after a member of a Chicago-based civil rights group discovered a birthday card there depicting a hijab-wearing little girl as a terrorist.

The card is being sold at He Who Eats Mud, a small business at 3247 N. Broadway Ave. in nearby Lake View. It shows a cartoon girl scattered with phrases like, "She’ll love you to death!" and "She’ll blow your brains out!” Inside the card it reads, “Hope your birthday is a blow out!"

The communications coordinator with the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations first discovered the card at He Who Eats Mud,Huffington Post Chicago reports. The Chicago Monitor, a website associated with CAIR-Chicago, later published an angry editorial about the card.

Raul Padilla—who owns He Who Eats Mud—told Patch the cards are now sold out, and he’s yet to make the decision whether to order more. He added that he’s gotten consistently negative feedback about selling the card, but seemingly not from Chicagoans.

“(We’re getting) a negative reaction from people on the phone,” Padilla said. “But they’re coming from people who have never been to the shop. … We carry all types of cards. We an equal opportunity offender.”

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Those angry with Padilla’s decision to sell the card also turned to business reviewing website Yelp, with commenters from Brooklyn and San Francisco giving one-star ratings and strongly worded evaluations.

“I contacted them about a racist doll they were selling at their store that portrays Muslim girls as terrorist with suicide packs, but they didn't pick up,” writes Hasan M. “I would like to please appeal to them to stop selling this doll. It is really offensive and something that makes me disgusted.”

“Terrible, rude customer service,” wrote reviewer Jeffrey D. “Owner perpetuates negative stereotypes.”

The card is a production of Noble Works in New Jersey, Huffpost Chicago reports, a company that makes cards with a “sick, provocative and sometimes controversial spin.” But the Chicago Monitor says, “we missed the humor.”

"Notice that nothing identifies this doll as a terrorist in the minds of the card designers other than that she wears a Hijab," Chicago Monitor wrote. "Moreover, she – like many Muslim girl who choose to wear the Hijab – is a smiling, non-threatening normal-looking female wearing a pink Hijab and a flower-patterned dress. The unmistakable message behind the “humor” is that even the most peaceful looking Muslims are synonymous and exchangeable with terrorists."

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