Flood of Anti-Muslim Violence Driving Record Year for Crimes of Hate
(COMMON DREAMS) Lauren McCauley, December 14, 2015 — 2015 is shaping up to be “one of the most intensely anti-Muslim periods in American history,” according to reports, as increasing xenophobia and hateful rhetoric has propelled a record number of attacks on mosques and Islamic centers across the U.S.
2015 is shaping up to be “one of the most intensely anti-Muslim periods in American history,” according to reports, as increasing xenophobia and hateful rhetoric has propelled a record number of attacks on mosques and Islamic centers across the U.S.
In the past few days alone, a man was arrested for setting fire to a mosque in California’s Coachella Valley and two additional mosques in nearby Hawthorne were targeted—one with graffiti and the other with the placement of a plastic grenade.
And in the North Texas town of Richardson, members of the so-called Bureau of American Islamic Relations carried guns alongside American flags as they protested outside a local mosque in the Dallas suburb.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)—which was the target of such an attack last week—has estimated that, as of December 8, mosques and Islamic centers in the U.S. “have been the victims of vandalism, harassment and anti-Muslim bigotry at least 63 times this year,” CNN reported late last week. This marks a threefold increase over last year and the highest tally since the Muslim civil rights group began keeping track in 2009.
“This November alone saw 17 anti-Muslim incidents at mosques, with the vehemence rising after terrorists aligned with the Islamic State killed 130 people in Paris,” CNN reported. “Death threats and vandalism spiked again after December 3, when a Muslim couple killed 14 people and injured 21 more in San Bernardino, California.”