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Racist Mailers Against Candidate Taint Twin Rivers Unified School District Election

NATOMAS (CBS13) — A local school board is inflamed in controversy after flyers were sent out alleging a candidate has ties to jihadists.

The racist political mailer arrived in Muhammad Khan's mailbox.

"They are trying to promote 'someone is American; someone is not,'" he said.

The crude school board race pamphlet targets candidate Basim Elkarra with references to jihadist groups, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and bizarre claims his posing in pictures with Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby are meant to confuse voters about his real family.

A picture of Elkarra with his mom and dad is also included.

"We celebrate diversity in Natomas, to see this ugliness, unfortunately this has been part of twin rivers politics over the years," Elkarra said.

He's a 35-year-old who was born in San Francisco and raised his family in Natomas. He's of Palestinian descent and is also Muslim.

"What it's going to do is put my family in danger, my wife is pregnant with twins, there might be someone out there that believes these accusations, and also it will paint a negative cloud over the district," he said.

Sonja Cameron is running against Elkarra and firmly condemned the pamphlet. She showed her family Christmas card as an example of how she's embraced diversity in her life.

"My family is like the rainbow, what america should be about—diversity," she said.

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