One Issaquah business’ well-intentioned mistake

A well-intentioned Issaquah chiropractor is being lauded for her attempts to stop anti-Muslim bigotry, but I fear the bigger picture issue is being missed.

The Issaquah Press recently published a feature on Leslie Banic of Banic Health. She published a sign at the front of her business that reads:

Hate Has No Business Here: We Stand with our Muslim community members. We stand with refugees and immigrants. All are welcome here.

The sign is published in nine languages and was inspired by a Minneapolis-based business doing the same thing.

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“We have close friends (from different backgrounds) and I can’t stand the thought of them worrying about their safety,” Banic told The Issaquah Press.

She’s asking other businesses to join her. She pitched the idea to the Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, and it received a positive reception.

“I’m really excited that the city manager expressed interest in posting the sign in some of the city facilities,” Banic told The Issaquah Press. “And Karen Donovan from the Downtown Issaquah Association has also liked the idea and is looking to putting a link to the flier in their next newsletter.”

While I can appreciate (and agree with) the sentiment behind this message, I’m concerned with the implications, and I think it’s a mistake.

It seems like this move isn’t being inspired by any local surge of anti-Muslim hate crimes. It seems inspired by the bigoted remarks of Donald Trump, but not necessarily any local issues concerning the treatment of Muslim residents. So what a sign like this ends up doing is forwarding a false narrative of communities being inhospitable to Muslim residents.

Further, when you pressure people into putting up signs, you end up giving off the impression that businesses that don’t have the sign must not support the message. Were Muslims, immigrants and refugees not welcome at this business prior to the sign going up?
Why stop with signs supporting Muslims? Why not gay people? Why not Christians? Why not Jewish people? Why not ? Am I to believe that without this kind of sign, you’re not not accepting of groups of people?

Banic told me, “To me this is about my kids, their friends and the kind of world I want them to grow up in (i.e. not about politics).

In this case, I wouldn’t put up this sign on my business; not because I don’t support the message, but because it’s a message that has been co-opted by ideologues who want to pretend conservatives don’t care about Muslims. I won’t partake in ideological bigotry.

So, while I appreciate her message (seriously: she seems like a great person and you should visit her business if you feel it’s right for you), I’m just not sure it’s necessary nor do I like the bigger implications of it.