DECIDELY UNCIVIL,
PART 2
Muslim
Mother Target of Hate Crime
05/02/07
 |
| Philadelphia
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge
Brian Lynch is joined by Salam Al-Marayati,
Executive Director MPAC, left, and Assistant
U.S. Attorney Jeff Whitt during a May
press conference in Philadelphia. |
She
is a mother of two, a Muslim Arab American,
and a manager at a Sheraton Suites Hotel in
Philadelphia. What could she possibly have
to do with the 9/11 attacks more than five
years ago?
Nothing,
of course. But that didn't stop one of
her employees from allegedly leaving her an
ominous threatening note filled with venomous
words and phrases such as "REMEMBER 9/11"
… "You and your kids will pay"
… and "death."
After
getting the threat letter, the woman did the
right thing: she contacted us for help.
We were able to investigate the incident as
a civil rights violation because the note
involved a federally protected right of employment
in a private business; the threat of force;
and apparent bias involving race, religion,
or ethnicity.
"Initially
I was very hesitant about approaching the
FBI," the victim said in an interview
with the Muslim Public Affairs Council, or
MPAC, which joined our Philadelphia office
and the local U.S. Attorney's Office at a
press conference Wednesday in announcing the
indictment of a 36-year-old Philadelphia woman
in the case earlier this week. "But along
the way I found good people investigating
my case."
That
included an FBI agent from our Philadelphia
office, who did some basic detective work
to find the alleged culprit. The cryptic note,
left in the victim's office last October,
contained a series of threatening phrases
cut from publications and attached to a partial
sheet of lined paper. The agent discovered
that the clippings appeared to come from brochures
at the hotel, which led him to the suspect.
Brian
Lynch, assistant special agent in charge of
our Philadelphia office, noted that hate crimes
targeting Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities
spiked after the 9/11 attacks, leading to
more than 500 investigations and more than
100 local and federal convictions. Our latest
stats show that 11 percent of the 1,314 hate
crimes motivated by religious bias—128
in all—targeted Muslims. More than 30
percent of all reported hate crime offenses
in 2005 involved intimidation similar to this
case.
"Incidents
of hate are under-reported out of fear of
the FBI and government in general," said
Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC,
which works to protect the civil rights of
Muslims. "In this case, the victim acquired
the confidence in government as she interacted
with law enforcement…. Our partnership
with the FBI and with the Department of Justice,
something we've worked on before 9/11, has
helped support more government engagement
from Muslim Americans."
With
the success of this case and the positive
interaction between this mother and FBI agents,
we only hope that more Muslim and Arab Americans
will have the confidence to step forward and
report attacks against them based on hatred
and discrimination. Our commitment to protecting
their rights—and the rights of all Americans—remains
strong.
Resources:
- DOJ
Press Release on Indictment
- Response
to Published Reports on FBI Civil Rights Cases
- Hate Crime
Statistics 2005
- FBI
Hate Crime Website
- Decidedly
Uncivil, Part 1: Cross Burnings in the 21st
Century
