New York - Another Muslim hate crime has occurred in New York. A Muslim girl in sixth grade was attacked by other students, who accused her of being a terrorist.
New York – Another Muslim hate crime has occurred in New York. A Muslim girl in sixth grade was attacked by other students, who accused her of being a terrorist.
The girl was wearing a hijab and three of her schoolmates called her “ISIS”, “terrorist”, and insulted her with other offensive names, according to a report by Trueactivist.com
According to eye-witnesses at the P.S. 89 Middle School, the site of the assault, “the boys put her in a headlock and punched her, then they attempted to take off her hijab”.
The police were called to the scene, but no report was filed since they were all underage minors, according to the authorities. The three attackers are only facing disciplinary action from their school and are allowed to get a lawyer to defend them, the report noted.
P.S. 89 school did not comment on the assault.
This type of verbal, physical, and emotional assault against Muslims has worsened with the recent terrorist attacks around the world, especially in Paris and San Bernardino, and the anti-Muslim rhetoric of racists such as Donald Trump.
“Unfortunately young Muslims have been experiencing this for quite some time,” Corey Saylor, a spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Inside Edition.
“Since August of last year… we’ve seen a cycle of Islamophobia that’s had a much more violent tinge to it than we’ve seen in many, many years. I would’ve argued that it was calming down until Paris followed by San Bernardino,” Saylor added.
“There is no burning bush solution… but for us, the problem that we’re trying to solve is that most Americans were introduced to Islam on 9/11 watching airplanes fly into buildings. If you’re subject to this steady diet of negative, and you’re getting it at home, we as a community have to figure out a way to overcome that (…),” Saylor highlighted.
On Saturday, a Muslim storeowner was punched repeatedly by a man who stormed into his shop in Astoria, Queens, New York, and beat him up saying, “I kill Muslims”.
Muslims in New York City have been the victims of several Islamophobic acts in the last month, resulting in Muslims being afraid of walking the streets, dressing in traditional Muslim garb, or practice their faith in public areas.
New York City has one of the largest Muslim communities in the U.S.
