It started out as a simple inquiry by a resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin about planned city bus service on upcoming Election Day. But the response by Alderman Chris Wery is now being criticized because he questions the citizen, who is Muslim, about her political views and whether she condemns Islamic terrorism.
Heba Mohammad - a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB) - emailed Wery to explore the possibility of the city providing free bus service to residents on Election Day.
“I recently discovered that Green Bay Metro does not provide free transportation on Election Day. This discovery is quite alarming considering that voting is a civic duty and important for our federal, state and local government,” Mohammad wrote.
In his response, Wery begins by thanking Mohammad for raising the concerns about free bus service, which he called “an interesting question that deserves some further research.”
But then the email exchange takes a distinct turn when Wery brings up Mohammad’s activities at UWGB, his alma mater. “I am just curious, you are the founder of the Muslim Student Association at UWGB? Across the country there seem to be some problems here and there with some MSA’s,” he writes.
“I just want to be assured that your group in no way promotes or defends militant Islamic ideology or Sharia law. Do you and the MSA condemn both of those as well as terrorist groups such as Hamas?” Wery asks.
Mohammad refused to answer Wery’s questions related to politics and terrorism and posted the email exchange on social media. She did respond that she was “offended” that the conversation went in a direction far from her original question about free bus service for voters on Election Day.
Wery issued a personal apology, but also defended his line of questioning. “My apologies if my questions were blunt, but I am not much for beating around the bush. Around the country and in the past there have been issues with MSA’s, so my questions were not off base,” he said.
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