Mooresville, NC – Today, People For the American Way joined with a multifaith coalition to deliver petitions containing over 200,000 signatures to Lowe’s Home Improvement’s corporate headquarters. 42,000 members of People For the American Way joined together to call on CEO Robert Niblock to reject the bigotry of right-wing extremists and reinstate its ads on TLC’s “All-American Muslim.” Earlier this month, Lowe’s pulled advertisements from the program in response to pressure from the Florida Family Association, an extreme right-wing group that objected to the show’s portrayal of American Muslims as “ordinary folks just like you and me.”
Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way, issued the following statement:
“Lowe’s set a dangerous precedent by caving in to a fringe group that preaches intolerance toward fellow Americans. The TLC program portrays Muslim Americans as the everyday people they are – people who go to work, go to school and pay taxes. Lowe’s should have rejected the Florida Family Association’s unhinged complaints – as do the vast majority of Americans.
“Lowe’s caved in to bigotry, but other companies stood their ground in the face of bigoted attacks. Companies like Campbell’s Soup and Sears, among others, rejected bigotry and were outspoken in their support of all Americans. In this case, they have set the bar for responsible corporate conduct.”
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People For the American Way joined Faithful America, Change.org, CREDO, SumOfUs, and Groundswell in collecting the petitions that were delivered by local clergy today to Lowe’s headquarters.
You can view our petition here: www.pfaw.org/Lowes