BANDING TOGETHER AGAINST HATE

From L to R; Hoda Katebi, coomunications coordinator for CAIR, Suzanne Damra and Sihan Zahdan, the mother and daughter who were allegedly attacked a couple of weeks ago. Photo courtesy of Ahmed Rehab
From L to R; Hoda Katebi, coomunications coordinator for CAIR, Suzanne Damra and Sihan Zahdan, the mother and daughter who were allegedly attacked a couple of weeks ago. Photo courtesy of Ahmed Rehab

BANDING TOGETHER AGAINST HATE

By Monique Smith

Continuous divisive rhetoric in the U.S associated with terrorism and broad labeling of Islam and Muslims as a terrorist group or religion is causing a population of people to rise up and demonstrate on levels reminiscent of the Jim Crow South.

Recently, a reported attack on a Muslim mother and daughter in the West Rogers Park neighborhood resulted in a coalition of organizations banding together to fight against racism and violence.

Siham Zahdan and Suzanne Damra, reported being verbally and physically attacked by a woman from their neighborhood on Thursday, August 12, 2016.

The attacker allegedly spit on and verbally harassed the women while they were walking to their vehicle.

There was video of the incident and it shows the attacker shouting obscenities and slurs at the women, calling them “ISIS.”

The woman that allegedly attacked them was physically violent, kicking their car and damaging the side view mirrors.

A coalition of organizations, including Center for New Community (CNC), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Chicago Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Chicago Chapter of the Council on

American Islamic Relations (CAIRChicago), and South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI), strongly condemn the rise of rhetoric, hate crimes and discrimination targeting Muslims or those perceived to be.

The organizations banded together recently to make official statements against the increase in anti-muslim rhetoric and crimes that follow as a result.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab says that this alleged attack comes during a time of heightened Islamophobia which has spiked since the first presidential nominees were announced for the current election cycle and in an official press release, the next day CAIR-Chicago called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate the alleged attack as a hate crime and are continuing to work with Suzanne and Siham to investigate this case.

The reported attacks in Rogers Park, along with the recent case of alleged violence against a young Muslim woman by Chicago Police, “remind us that we all have work to do in this city to keep each other safe,” said Debbie Southorn, program associate with the American Friends Service Committee.

“In a city with a longstanding history of racist police violence, we know we can’t count on policing to provide genuine safety for our Muslim community members. An escalation in hateful rhetoric and attacks means that we all have work to do to be better neighbors and stop racist and Islamophobic violence at its roots,” Southorn added.

“While these anti-Muslim sentiments are nothing new, over the past few months it seems to have become increasingly acceptable to express such views openly,” said Esther Mack, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago’s Anti-Islamophobia Working Group. “Many Jews know from personal experience what it is like to be targeted because of religion or race, and to be publicly scapegoated and humiliated. We stand in solidarity with our Muslim brethren in the face of these increasingly public bigoted attacks.”

Hoda Katebi, Communications Coordinator for CAIR says their next plan of action is to ‘continue to build the coalition’.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.