Is the NAACP branching out into the “Islamophobia” fear-mongering racket?

MANSFIELD — A Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association event featuring a speaker on radical Islam will go on at 7 p.m. today as planned, but in a different location.

Usama Dakdok will speak at Premier Office Complex, 1456 Park Avenue West, Suite J. Attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs.

The group had planned to meet at its usual location at the high school until this morning, when Mansfield City Schools Superintendent Dan Freund, citing safety concerns, withdrew permission for the group to meet there.

Speaking at a 10:30 a.m. press conference at the school’s central office, 856 W. Cook Road, Freund said that, after consulting with Mansfield City Police, the school decided it could not guarantee public safety at a Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association event scheduled for 7 p.m.

In his comments, Freund said the district’s decision was prompted by safety concerns and not by the presumed content of the scheduled speaker’s message.

The Mansfield Branch of NAACP followed with a press conference of their own at 11 a.m.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m. today, the NAACP announced it would hold a joint press conference at 11 a.m. to ask the Mansfield City Schools Board of Education and superintendent to withdraw permission for the tea party meeting tonight. Around 10 a.m., the superintendent’s office annnounced a press conference for 10:30 a.m.

According to a press release issued this morning, NAACP will be joined at the 11 a.m. press conference by representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Mansfield Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and other civic community leaders.

The NAACP press release states: “We must stand together as a community and realize there exists many, diverse cultures in America. We as Americans have a right to choose whatever religion we wish to follow. It is our country’s diversity which has made us a nation rich in cultural experience and our children have a right to know that whatever faith they choose to follow, that they will not be judged by their color or religion, but by the content of their character.”