Another Muslim Is Killed In America. Anyone Care?
With a nod to my fellow Americans who happen to be Muslim. Or thought to be. Or were ever targeted by hate… We need to care. All of us. Please retweet. The writer said it much better than I could have. Does he go further than I might? Maybe. But this is necessary food for thought.
Yesterday I put up a Page about a suspicion about a couple photographers taking pictures of Synagogues. The first concern was their complexion,. Then assumptions were made about their origin, religion and dark suspicions about intent. Then the car plate was questioned. Wut? Photography is not a crime in public. Being Muslim, wearing a Hijab, a Burka or olive toned skin isn’t either. **RESOLVED these people were perfectly innocent of any harmful intent. HT to the inestimable Curious Lurker.
But here’s what I will say: If a Muslim is “randomly” killed in America in this current climate of anti-Muslim bigotry, I’m assuming it’s a hate crime until evidence has been produced to prove otherwise.
And, yes, I know that a hate crime requires evidence that a person was targeted for his race, religion, etc. I’m a former trial attorney, so I’m fully familiar with the evidentiary requirements to prove this crime in a court of law.
But we don’t live in a courtroom. We live in a country where anti-Muslim bigotry is thriving and going unchecked. We live in a country where Muslim hate is so palpably alarming that when I met President Obama a month ago along with 13 other Muslim Americans, this was the only issue I raised to him. And that was six days before we saw three young Muslim American college students, Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, murdered execution-style in their Chapel Hill apartment.
We live in a country, as Salem explained, where the uptick in anti-Muslim incidents in Dallas alone has reached levels never seen before. She noted that the local Muslim community is truly frightened and on edge.
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Note there was a typo from the source in the headline and link that CL pointed out.