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New Mexico Convenience Store Sparks Controversy With Racist Signs

Brooke James
First Posted: Jan 03, 2017 03:50 AM EST

A convenience store in Mexico has been making waves for promoting his business using signs that threaten political violence. The Mayhill Convenience Store has been putting up signs with phrases like "Bullets Not Ballots" and "Kill Obama" with "care" in smaller letters underneath.

The signs are said to have been put up for over a year now. But local station KOB drew new attention last Friday when a new sign was plastered, saying "Obama & other Muslims not welcome here."

Marlon McWilliams, a former worker at the store, told the station that those who have called out the owner have been banned from the establishment. He shared, "If you go in there and you offend him, you can't go in there no more. He turns lots of people away."

The Huffington Post reported that the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement regarding the signs, saying, "While everyone has the First Amendment right to free speech - even offensive speech - we urge the store's owner to remove the sign in the interest of common decency and of our nation's unity at a time of increasing divisions." Other contentious signs posted in the store include an "Obama Swing Set" that shows a picture of a noose and another that said "Obama The Anti-Christ."

The store has recently drawn worldwide attention, thanks to KOB's report. But Sacramento Bee noted that there had been social media postings that implied the store has shocked its visitors in the past. Unfortunately, this did not deter the store's owner from producing the signs, and it is one of the few places in the community with groceries readily available.

Mayville Convenience Store has already been hit with multiple negative reviews on Facebook and Google, with people calling the policies a violation of non-discrimination laws. Attempts for comment from the owner have so far fallen on deaf ears.

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