Hate crimes against Muslims in U.S.A

cair.net - 9/6/2004 5:00:00 PM GMT

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today urged the Arizona law enforcement authorities and the FBI to investigate an attack by vandals on a Muslim-owned car as a possible hate crime.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said a Muslim in Tucson, Ariz., reported that his family's car was vandalized in the parking lot of his apartment building sometime between late Monday and early Tuesday of last week.

According to the victim, who is a U.S. resident of Jordanian origin, the car's tires were slashed, the windshield was smashed and a racist note was taped to the vehicle. The note, which was taken by the investigating police officer, said: "You are not welcome here. Go back home you…”

CAIR is also worried about a series of similar incidents of vandalism reported lately by Muslims nationwide. A New York Muslim reported that he found his car’s window broken with a brick. In Virginia, a Muslim reported two separate incidents of vandalism to a car. Also in New Jersey, a Muslim found his car's windshield smashed in his driveway.

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said, "While some of these incidents do not have overt signs of bias, taken together they form a disturbing pattern that should be noted by law enforcement authorities and elected officials." He added that the current Republican National Convention offers an excellent opportunity for GOP leaders to speak out against anti-Muslim prejudice and stereotyping.

Nihad Awad also said that other incidents targeting Muslim individuals and Islamic institutions have been going on recently across America.

A Muslim driver reported Just last week in New Jersey that he was attacked by a white male in another car who punched him in the face while he was sitting in his car at a traffic light. During the incident, the attacker reportedly called the victim a "terrorist". He also allegedly told the victim to "go back to whatever … Arab country you came from."

Also this month, CAIR called on the FBI to investigate an intentionally-set fire at a Muslim store in McAllen, Texas, as a possible hate crime and sought felony charges in a bias attack on a New York Muslim taxi driver.

Just last month, two Muslim teenagers in Buffalo, N.Y., said that white teenagers shouted ethnic slurs at them and then tried to run over the girls with their car.

Earlier this year in Florida a note written by vandals was found inside the Islamic Community Center in the Tampa suburb of Lutz saying, "Kill all Muslims".

The FBI is also investigating vandalism and threatening messages targeting the Islamic Community of Southwest Florida in Charlotte Harbor. In Missouri, vandals painted a Nazi swastika and the word "die" on an addition under construction at the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis.

In Texas, a man was arrested for threatening an El Paso Islamic center, and arson suspect was arrested at the scene of a fire at a Muslim business in San Antonio, also vandals scrawled racist graffiti on the interior of a Lubbock mosque. Not only that but also a homemade bomb exploded in the mailbox of a Houston, Texas Islamic center.