US police chief criticised for ‘anti-Muslim’ Facebook posts

The police chief did not respond to inquiries when he was contacted

An Islamic American civil rights group is calling for an Alabama police chief to be investigated after he posted a picture of “bacon grease covered bullets,” believed to be specifically targeting Muslims.

Gurley Police Chief Barry Pendergraft on September 23, shared a picture of a box of ammunition on his personal Facebook account with the caption, “100 more bacon grease covered bullets in the box! This relaxes me so!!”. Four days later, Pendergraft posted a short video of ammunition being picked up with a similar caption, “Happiness is a couple thousand rounds in the ammo box! Bacon grease dipped of course!!”

Screenshot of the Facebook post. PHOTO: CAIR



According to The Executive Director of the Alabama Council on Islamic-American Relations, Khaula Hadeed, the bacon grease covered bullets refers to “a theme often used by anti-Muslim bigots because they falsely believe Muslims cannot enter heaven if they are shot by such ammunition.”

She said in a statement, “We call on state and federal authorities to investigate whether the evident anti-Muslim bigotry expressed by Chief Pendergraft is acceptable for someone in his position, who is obligated to provide all citizens, regardless of faith or ethnicity, equal and fair treatment.”

Hadeed told The Washington Post that a few people alerted her last week to the Facebook posts, which at the time were publicly visible. “It was extremely disturbing to see that. In the beginning I didn’t even believe it,” she said. “This is an intimidation tactic. It’s basically telling us ‘Buddy, I’m getting ready for something.’ What are you getting ready for? This is the scary part.”



The police chief did not respond to inquiries on Saturday when he was contacted. As of Friday, his Facebook account was no longer publicly visible, according to Hadeed. She said the chief’s Facebook posts reflect a rise in Islamophobia nationwide, which she attributed “at least in part to anti-Muslim bigotry expressed by Donald Trump and other public figures.”

Update: None of the Muslims melted,” Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the CAIR-Arizona chapter, tweeted sarcastically.

“We’re developing a bacon tolerance,” Siddiqi tweeted in a wry follow-up. “We’re like the Deadpool of religious communities.”

Update: None of the Muslims melted.
https://t.co/peyf8RslIE pic.twitter.com/o8fTqaERTT

— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) October 4, 2016

This is not the first time Muslim groups have felt targeted because of a pork-related incident. In January, surveillance video showed a red truck driving past the al Aqsa mosque in North Philadelphia and someone throwing an object from the window, police said. A caretaker later discovered the pig’s head they said.

This article originally appeared on Washington Post.