Kathleen Lavey

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - The Islamic Society of Greater Lansing is among many Muslim organizations across the country to receive a photocopy of a handwritten hate letter this week.

The letter, citing Donald Trump's presidential victory and threatening to "do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews," is part of a mailing originating in California. The Associated Press reports it also has been received by mosques in California, Ohio, Rhode Island, Indiana, Colorado and Georgia.

Besides the mosque in East Lansing, an Ann Arbor mosque also received it.

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Thasin Sardar, outreach coordinator for the Islamic Society, said he sent a copy of the letter to the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan Chapter in Dearborn. That group advocates for the civil liberties of Muslims. He also intends to report the letter to the East Lansing police this afternoon.

"This is being sent nationwide, and it is somebody who is ignorant who is sending it," he said. "If the person sending it is getting this message, we would invite them to come and visit for her or himself and see how we worship."

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The brief, handwritten letter is addressed "To the children of Satan" and is signed "Americans for a Better Way." It says that President-elect Donald Trump is going to "cleanse America" and that Muslims would be wise to "pack your bags and get out of Dodge."

"It is very worrisome because it kind of amplifies the rhetoric that President-elect Trump started" during the campaign, Sardar said. Trump's campaign proposals included a database of American Muslims and restrictions on Muslim immigration to the United States.

Contact Kathleen Lavey at (517) 377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @kathleenlavey.