Controversial ISIS Coloring Book Reaches Vestavia Home
Really Big Coloring Books, which credits itself with starting the adult coloring book craze, has come out with a new and controversial one titled “ISIS: A Culture of Evil.” The company sent thousands unsolicited around the country, and one ended up in a Muslim household in Vestavia Hills.
Henna Budhwani had just gotten home from work and was going through the mail when she found a manilla envelope. “I opened this up and I was horrified. Initially it took a minute to even register what I was looking at because it was a coloring book, but it felt anti-Islamic. It talked about anti-ISIS. It had a parental warning on it,” she says.
The cover shows a beheading, and there’s more graphic violence inside. Budhwani is Muslim, and she panicked. “I felt genuinely targeted,” she says.” I thought that someone had pulled my name from a database and said you’re a Muslim living in Alabama, and we want you out.”
But it turns out that the public-health researcher was on the company’s mailing list because several years ago, she worked on a related activity book that the company published.
Publisher Wayne Bell says there’s no reason for Muslims to take offense: “This is a pro-Islam book. There’s no doubt about it.” He says it’s part of a series including “We Shall Never Forget 9/11” and “The True Faces of Evil Global Terrorism.”
He says a lot of people “enjoy the fact that we’re not afraid to boldly go where a lot of publishers will not go.”
The company has also published titles like “Being Gay is Okay,” and books about dinosaurs and trains. Bell says the ISIS book is meant for adults. It includes a section saying that most Muslims don’t support ISIS. In addition to people like Budhwani, the book has been sent to hundreds of churches, synagogues and mosques.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
