A restaurant owner in Minnesota, where ISIS claimed responsibility over the weekend for a mall attack, has done a little dot-connecting and decided the best way to fight terrorism moving forward is to ban every Muslim from his business. As of Monday morning, the signage outside Treats Family Restaurant in Lonsdale now simply reads, “Muslims Get Out.” A second line clarifies, “In Support of St. Cloud,” the city where the stabbings occurred.
Owner Dan Ruedinger explained to CBS Minnesota why this move was necessary (unsurprisingly, it mostly just involves him citing the First Amendment):
“It’s time that people started standing up, not worrying about the PC crowd and do what is right,” Ruedinger said. “And I feel what we’re doing is right. We are not targeting the Muslims in general, just the extremists. And that’s all I can say. It’s my right and I’m going to stand up, and I wish more people would do it.”
His bold, racist terrorism-awareness tactics already led one protester to try peeling off the letters, which prompted a 911 call. But Ruedinger claims that he’s getting lots of support nonetheless, and that business was actually up so much that yesterday he had to call in three extra workers. He grants that “some Muslims” are actually good people, but the sign’s point is about them needing to “hold the others accountable.” Also, he’s upset himself because these angry people don’t even understand — he originally intended to make it clear he wasn’t referring to all of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, but “we didn’t have room on the board.”
