Pregnant US Muslim Woman Racially Harassed

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Very sad, have a read. Humans at their lowest.

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – A leading US Muslim civil liberties group called on US security agencies to investigate an assault against a pregnant Muslim woman by a group of men shouting anti-Muslim slogans.

“We believe these types of incidents are the direct result of the growing level of virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric Americans are exposed to on the Internet, in newspaper editorial pages and on radio talk shows,” said Ibrahim Hooper, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Communications.

Mary Anne Coldia, a 23-year-old Muslim woman who is 8 months pregnant, was attacked by three white men in a pick-up truck in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, August 9, while she was going for her morning walk, CAIR said in a statement, a copy of which was e-mailed to IslamOnline.net.

The three men began to scream anti-Muslim and racist slurs at the Muslim woman, who is of African origin.

“You terrorist btch, go back to your country. . .You ngger b*tch.”

As the Muslim woman continued walking down the street, one of the men, who was wearing military-style clothing, jumped out of the truck, walking in front of her and pushed her around before getting back into the truck.

“You terrorist btch. . . We’re going to kick your as. . . you’re nothing,” the man shouted.

“The other two guys they were just laughing and screaming at the top of their lungs like it was a joke, and then they just sped off down the street,” Coldia said.

Coldia, who was born in California and raised in Lowa, embraced Islam about five years ago.

Some 35 percent to 40 percent of US Muslims are African Americans, 25 percent are South Asians and 15 percent are Arabs, according to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

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(ps CM… if you say that this is a thread of substance and belongs in general (unlike a lot of others) I’ll cook bhindi for you. :hug: )

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Re: Pregnant US Muslim Woman Racially Harassed

Now this is pathetic. First the race crime in New York. A black man killed for his skin color and now this. This is truly pathetic. This is definitely a thread of substance :p (Good bribe i will do anything for bhindi :p)

The question is though, after all the US actions around the world, is it safe to be a muslim in the west?

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CM will say anything for food. :hehe:

Sad tale…not reflective of the general mood towards muslims tho..

[[ Kash is Eid par main tera bakra hota ]
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Really that is why muslims are still in prision for no crimes or charges?

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But on the flip side, recent polls found that american impressions of muslims have improved...

(i got this from another yahoo groups so i'm unsure the source)

The deadly July bombings in London put Americans on alert but created no
backlash against American Muslims or Islam, according to a poll released
Tuesday. The poll also showed a decline in the percentage of Americans who
believe Islam is more violent than other religions.

The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew
Forum on Religion & Public Life was conducted after the July 7 attack on subways
and buses in London killed 52 people, leading U.S. authorities to tighten
security at transportation facilities. The attack was blamed on four British
Muslims, leading some Islamic commentators and others to express concern that
Muslims in general could be targeted for retribution.

But the survey found that the percentage of Americans who have a favorable
opinion of Muslim Americans continues to rise, from 45 percent in March 2001 —
before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States — to 51 percent in July 2003 to
55 percent today. That’s almost exactly the same percentage who hold the same
view of evangelical Christians (at 57 percent), compared to 77 percent for Jews
and 73 percent for Catholics.

And the more a respondent knows about Islam, the more likely he or she is to
regard Muslim Americans favorably, the survey found, indicating that efforts to
raise public knowledge about Islam since 2001 are paying off.

Acceptance of Islam rising

Even with recent reminders of radical Islamic terrorism, fewer and fewer
Americans believe that Islam itself is more violent than other religions. Two
years ago, 44 percent believed Islam “is more likely to encourage violent
behavior among its followers,” Pew said. That figure dropped to 36 percent in
the new poll.

However, the numbers reflect a deep ideological split. By 2-to-1, conservative
Republicans were more likely to hold this view than were liberal Democrats. And
overall, Americans hold Islam in less regard than other religions; only 39
percent said they had a favorable opinion of the faith itself.

Particularly striking is the poll’s finding that, by a significant margin,
Americans refuse to see themselves as at war with Islam. A clear majority, 60
percent, say the conflict is with a small radical element, compared with only 29
percent who see it as a conflict between the West and Islam itself, down from 35
percent in August 2002.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. political leaders and religious figures have worked
hard to educate Americans about the peaceful preaching of Islam to stave off a
backlash against Muslim Americans. The Pew poll has mixed news for them.

Nearly four years after the 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania, two-thirds of Americans say they still know little or nothing
about the religion. Barely half could even identify the Quran as its equivalent
to the Bible.

However, the more they knew about Islam, the more likely respondents were to
look favorably on it: 44 percent of respondents who reported a high knowledge of
Islam said it had a lot in common with their own religion, compared with 12
percent who reported a low knowledge. Likewise, those who knew a lot about Islam
were most likely, at 61 percent, to have a favorable view of Muslim Americans.

The survey interviewed 2,000 adults by telephone from July 7 to July 17. It
reported a margin of sampling error of 2.5 percentage points.

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^ Didn't know all muslims are in jail? What is this woman doing walking around then? Those that are in jail..need to remain there. INfact find their like minded cohorts and put them there as well. Do as it is done in muslim countries...a taste of home if you will.

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One wonders. Funny thing I never saw incidents such as this on the news on TV or in the papers. Odd.

Personally I saw nothing different here in Canada. Me being a hijaban and all. But a lot of Muslims are worried. It’s not pleasant being innocent yet being thought of as a potential “terrorist”.

(if you had disagreed, I’d have made it karelay)

amelie – Maybe its possible. Yet I doubt it.

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Re: Pregnant US Muslim Woman Racially Harassed

If such a thing can happen in Arlington, VA...you can expect just about anything.

Reminds me of a part of a Quranic Verse:

"....Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths: What their hearts conceal is far worse. .... "

[[ Kash is Eid par main tera bakra hota ]
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Well at least those three idiots didn't wrap a suicide bomb around their backs and blew her up. Isn't that what some of the so called 'Muslims' doing right now to innocent civilians?

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where's that happening funguy?

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^ so you are saying the recent London bombings did not kill any innocent civilians (some may be pregnant)?

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what happened in London was very bad...and Blair and Co. are equally responsible for that.

But how many times did you see a muslim man, harrassing 8 month pregnant woman, in the name of religion or state?

...mujhey sochna
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Its a very sad incident, and I’m glad authorities are getting down to figure out who dun it.

At least that would not happen in many muslim countries - you know it, that is why you are in Canada. Otherwise, why not live in Pakistan? Because even as a hijaban you could get raped by your own fellow muslims and no fellow muslim policeman is going to help you out - in fact, you’ll be accused of adultery and executed if you try to take your case too far. Unless you’re lucky enough to get raped by some nobody addict of the street. If you get raped by some higher-up, you’re screwed. Literally and figuratively.

I’m not going to defend these goons, because there is no defence for their behavior. But if you’re going to criticize the American that is intolerant of the muslims, also remember to praise the American police system and legal system that gets down to working on these crimes.

Thanks for that article, Amelie - it gives us a less skewed perspective on the matter.

FYI Muslim-Queen - I am sure you have had your share of gaaliyan because you wear a hijab, and I wont doubt that its happened or condone it. I have lots of friends here who wear hijab though, and after 9/11, when emotions were really high, only one girl was attacked. The rest have not experienced anything. The only adult example I can think of is my aunt had started wearing hijaab, and she went to the grocery store - she had a VEHEM (no proof mind you) that someone was following her out of the grocery store. It could have been some guy just walking to his car, but whatever - she freaked and told her husband about it and they both decided that for her safety, she should probably not wear it. So she isn’t wearing hijab anymore. Not that you HAVE TO take off your hijab, MQ, by all means keep wearing it. But given the intensity of these crimes like 9/11 and 7/7 and madrid bombings, etc, we’re real lucky that the hate crimes are NOT as bad as they could be.

And definitely doing active dawah creatively thru community work has had a very positive impact. :k:

I’ll give you another scenario - I would take a bunch of the muslim kids on campus and have them do group volunteering - we treated it like dawah in a way, and also made some good community service hours. (I suggest that if you can do this - try doing it - its a good experience). Anyway, we went on the train as a group - and this lady with a child was sitting there and she was like literally cringing in fear and looking at us with a lot of disdain - perhaps a relative had died in 9/11 - who knows.

We all ignored it and kept chatting and talking and just being normal. That’s the only way to deal with it - show that you’re normal. And khud by khud, if they can think, they’ll come around to realizing we’re not like green little men taking over the planet. But this one kid got really emotional and he kept staring back at her with hatred. In urdu he was telling me, “how can she be staring at us like that??”. He literally wanted to punch her.

That kind of attitude doesn’t help. Its beliggerant and the other side takes it as an offensive attack, even if its meant to be defensive. She wasn’t saying anything to anyone or hitting anyone, so there was no need for him to stare at her crudely. I bet you if anything, his stare was the only one she remembered.

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This is not a new thing.

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My point is that these hate crimes WILL happen. Allah ka shukar hai, no one is torching our homes like the KKK did back in the day, and putting crosses up in our yards.

The most important thing here is not to point fingers, but be proactive - okay, so you identify this as a problem in the community - what will you do to help get rid of this animosity towards muslims?

Active dawah creatively done is a great idea. I was watching the highlights on ARY they were showing of the APPNA conference. This one guy had a GREAT idea and that was muslim doctors should set up free clinics in these big cities they live in - treat anyone that walks in of all races and religions. You have your dawah, community service as an American citizen, and your own thriving practice all in one shot!

Likewise, many of us have different careers. Have we thought about setting up charities for non-muslims and muslims alike (just like christians do - and they win so many people over) as a form of dawah and also as a form of wiping awah bad images of muslims from the western mind?

Very few - VERY FEW - people are taking this iniative in our society. But it only takes one. I set up that group volunteering thing - and all the uni's in our area - their muslim student groups decided that they would work on similar projects. And I didn't even have a clue that it would be like that - I just wanted some company from friends since I always volunteered alone!

bore thread
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Depending. See the difference is we accept we do it. Your masters don’t. After all did you read the news items of US Soldiers raping women and children in Abu Gharib?

PCG name one race related crime against a white person in the Islamic world. Show me one link?

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PCG your post was informative, unfortunately nothing I am not already aware of.

At least that would not happen in many muslim countries - you know it, that is why you are in Canada. Otherwise, why not live in Pakistan? Because even as a hijaban you could get raped by your own fellow muslims and no fellow muslim policeman is going to help you out - in fact, you'll be accused of adultery and executed if you try to take your case too far. Unless you're lucky enough to get raped by some nobody addict of the street. If you get raped by some higher-up, you're screwed. Literally and figuratively.

Those are hardly all my reasons for living here. I dont care to bring my personal life into this thread. Anyway I dislike generalizing to this extent. Hope you dont mind.

I was not criticizing America. I was criticizing three low human beings. In no manner did I throw in the entire nation into my post. I was not pointing fingers either. If you wish, have a read in my journal. I criticize whatever actions are wrong in my eyes, whether they are done by so called Muslims or Americans ,doesnt matter to me.

You keep mentioning active dawa events, but you dont really know exactly what I do with my life , but do keep an open mind. Posting on gs is not the only thing I take part in.

I have been involved in quite a few events where we educate and teach Islam.

My point was not that I need to do more. Of course I probably do. Neither was I saying the Americans are all to blame.

You are right we should help, and do what we can in our own homes and communities. However, I think it is wrong to start picking at other issues when I am talking about a pregnant woman who was harassed. It makes me think it doesnt matter what was done to her.

PCG, I have never been harassed in such a manner due to the fact that I wear a hijaab. Nobody has ever made any such low comments to me because of my hijab. And I have been living here in Canada most of my life. No Gaaliyan ever.

This was not about Americans PCG. It was about three very pathetic people. I hope I made that clear.

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Most americans, particularly the gung-ho patriotic hick variety are a bunch of pu$$ies, just look at the circumstances and the victim these three scums picked on, a lone pregnant woman.....Therefore, if you live anywhere near a hickville, pretty much all of middle america and the South...make sure to accompany your women when they go out as much as possible....

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How about attacks on Christians? Pakistan has had several attacks on christian schools, churches, ect in the lst few years.

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The difference dumbass they are not racially based hate crimes. They are fringe groups. Secondly they are targets within the country.

I repeat. Show me one hate crime against a white foriegner in an Islamic country.

who can speak Punjabi - any guppan??