Oklahoma congressional candidate to attend protest of OU Muslim event

An Oklahoma congressional candidate will attend the protest against an Islamic activist group on campus Saturday.

Kevin Calvey, Oklahoma 5th Congressional District candidate, R- Del City, said he was planning on attending the Oklahomans Against CAIR Hate protest outside of the Meacham Auditorium of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

“This has nothing to do with Muslims. I have worked with Muslims, and I respect their freedom of speech,” Calvey said. “But CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) is a terrorist group, and people need to know what they really are.”

Calvey said he respects Muslims and those who practice Islam, but said CAIR should be exposed for its alleged terrorist connections and recent terrorism related convictions.

“I risked my life and have fought along side Muslims in the defense of their freedom and our freedom,” Calvey said. “We hope that people will come out and talk to us about the truth behind this organization.”

Calvey said the protest will not be linked to his campaign for Congress and that he is going out of personal convictions and revelations.

“I just began to learn the truth about CAIR earlier this month and that is when I began to speak out and protest after I have seen for myself that this group is not what it makes it self out to be,” he said.

Ahmad Khattab, OU Muslim Student Association president, told The Daily earlier this week that he felt the protesters were personally attacking him because he and other campus Muslims are being targeted. CAIR has helped with the Muslim Student Association with campus activities in the past.

“By them coming to campus and shouting out stereotypes, they are promoting ignorance,” Khattab said. “It is that negative stereotyping, ignorance and bias that they will show that makes life hard for many Muslim Americans in this country every day. CAIR really does do positive things, and by throwing out rumors and false accusations, they are showing that they are just here to be hateful.”

But Calvey said he hopes to show that he cares about all Muslims and the only reason people are coming to OU is to protest CAIR and its national leadership, who Calvey said is under investigation by the FBI for terrorist connections.

Calvey said he stands by Cindy Crenshaw, president of Oklahomans Against CAIR Hate, who was quoted in The Daily as announcing its intentions of coming on campus as exposing a terrorist group.

“CAIR tries to portray itself as an innocuous civil rights organization, but it is not,” Crenshaw stated on the group’s Web site. "CAIR leaders have been sentenced to 65 years in prison for terrorist related activities; CAIR received funds from a bogus ‘charity’ called the Holy Land Foundation which funneled money to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas; the FBI cut off relations with CAIR late in 2008 out of concerns for CAIR’s terrorist connections; and CAIR is regarded as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League, a nearly 100-year-old respected institution dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of proof of CAIR’s terrorist connections.”

Calvey said the group does not know what the film is about and plans to protest CAIR outside of the event it is holding.

Also, Roberta Clark, associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, told The Daily in an e-mail her organization does not consider CAIR as a hate group.

Calvey served as a state representative for Oklahoma House District 94 from 1998 to 2006. In 2007, Calvey fought in the Iraq War.

Ricky Maranon

Ricky is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Staff Writer and Assignment Editor.