A 10-year-old Muslim girl has received more than 500 letters of support from across the country after she started receiving threatening notes at her Massachusetts elementary school.
The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told The Associated Press on Thursday that the girl has received an outpouring of support after the group requested letters to “counteract the hateful message” after the fifth-grader reported receiving threatening notes.
{mosads}CAIR reports that notes of support have come from more than 20 states, including Hawaii, and are often full of handwritten messages and illustrations.
One person wrote, “You are loved. You belong.”
Another note, this one from a 6-year-old named Sophie, included a drawing of two people holding hands, AP noted.
“Dear friend, people of all religions should be friends,” Sophie wrote.
Sumaiya Zama, of the Massachusetts chapter of CAIR, praised the “powerful messages” from people of different faiths.
“Despite the climate of animosity and fear that so many Muslims face today, it’s clear that we have allies,” she said in a statement obtained by AP.
The fifth grader at Hemenway Elementary School in Framingham, about 25 miles from Boston, received two threatening notes in her classroom storage cubby earlier this month.
One note read “You are a terrorist” and the other “I will kill you.”
The police are investigating the incident and school officials have called for whoever wrote the note to identify themselves.