In the immediate aftermath of the presidential election, there has been a spate of hate crimes across the United States, most of which have referenced the new president-elect or one of his campaign slogans.
The following incidents have been collated by The Muslim News since the morning of the election results.
November 8
Bar, Santa Monica, California: A Canadian film producer was assaulted after watching the election results at a bar. When he left the bar, he was walking through an alley when he was attacked by a group of men – one of whom smashed a bottle over his head. He fell back, his head smashing against the concrete, causing him to black out.
Victim Statement: Chris Ball – “People started launching homophobic slurs at me from afar. They were saying things like, ‘We got a new president you f**king f**gots’, I got into it, but I didn’t want to provoke them. When I came to, I remember waking up and wiping the blood from my eyes. I called some friends, they picked me up and I went right to the hospital.”
November 9
Fayetteville Street, Durham, North Carolina: The day after Trump’s victory, someone painted ‘Black lives don’t matter and neither does your votes’ on the street wall.
Broad and Wharton streets, South Philadelphia: Swastikas and racist graffiti referencing Trump and Nazi Germany were spray-painted on a South Philadelphia storefront and elsewhere. The graffiti was spotted at Broad and Wharton streets a day after the presidential election.
Wellsville, Allegany County, New York: Softball dugout in Island Park in Wellsville was defaced with the words ‘Make America White Again,’ accompanied by a large swastika. The graffiti was discovered this morning and the police were called. The park is located near Wellsville High School and the town’s central business district.
Location unknown (reported Facebook)
Victim Statement: Maha Abdul Gawad – “My first racist encounter after our new joke of a president, as I am at Wallmart [sic] today, a woman came up to me and pulled my Hijab off and said ‘this is not allowed anymore, so go hang yourself with it around your neck not on your head.’ I am traumatized.”
Guys, a trump supporter tried pulling off my hijab… This is not a joke anymore, all non-whites have become targets. Stay safe 💕
— bye (@Palestixian) November 9, 2016
Location unknown (reported Twitter)
Victim Statement: @Palestixian – “Guys, a trump supporter tried pulling off my hijab. This is not a joke anymore, all non-whites have become targets. Stay safe. ”
November 10
Manhattan, New York: A woman from Queens was harassed by a white couple on a bus for wearing a hijab. Some strangers started to defend her, and they started fighting, she said. The woman then came closer and tried to pull the hijab from her head. The victim immediately got off the bus, and walked home.
Victim Statement: Fariha Nizam, 19. – “I was crying incessantly, looking away, but they did not stop. They started yelling at me and telling me to take off the disgusting piece of cloth on my head, saying that it wasn’t allowed anymore. I’ve been taking [that bus] forever: for high school, for college, for work I’ve always been taking that bus and nothing has ever happened to me before. ”
November 11
Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa: ‘You can all go home now, we don’t want nig**rs and terrorists here #trump’, said a note left at a Sudanese-Muslim family’s home. The police declined to come to the house to take photos or record a statement. Iowa City Police Chief Bill Campbell later branded the police reaction “unacceptable”. Police confirmed a 911 call at 12:37 a.m. and that an officer returned the call a few minutes later, but did not go to the house.
Victim Statement: Amar Samel said a police officer told him “‘Take it (the note) down and throw it away. There’s really nothing I can do’”, he added, “I did not believe what I was seeing. I live in a peaceful city, a liberal city that is accepting of diversity. This is a consequence of what their leader said before the election”. Muna Abdalla, his wife added, “It’s scary, too”
Schools, Colleges and Universities
November 9
NYU Tandon School of Engineering, New York: Muslim students found ‘Trump’ scrawled on the door of their prayer room.
Victim Statement: “We awoke to a chilling wakeup call. And as we open our eyes and start to move and organize in the face of these new realities, we ask for your support.”
El Camino Real High School, LA, California: A teen was verbally attacked outside of her school for being a Muslim and it was the first of two assaults she endured the day after the election. The second incident happened when she was walking to class: a male student allegedly came up behind her and tried to rip off her head scarf.
Victim Statement: Mariam Nomair, 16, – “We’re getting attacked for no reason. I’ve done nothing wrong…and I don’t understand why I’m being attacked because of it. He like grabbed me by my bun and my hijab and tried to pull it off. He was like, ‘You shouldn’t be wearing that, you towel head. You’re not American. This isn’t America. This isn’t what America stands for.’”
Shasta High School, Shasta County, California: A student handed out deportation letters to students of many different ethnicities, according to Jim Cloney the school district Superintendent. Cloney added the school will not tolerate this behaviour. However, it was not clear what actions the school has taken, if any, to discipline the student.
Bret Harte Middle School, San Jose, California: A substitute PE teacher was fired after a student recorded him taunting Latino sixth graders about the election of Trump, telling them their parents were going to be deported. The teacher was recorded saying, “If you were born here, then your parents got to go. Then they will leave you behind, and you will be in foster care.” When one child asked how Trump would find them, the teacher replied, “I have your phone numbers, your address, your mama’s address, your daddy’s address. It’s all in the system, sweetie.”
San Jose State University, San Jose, California: A sophomore psychology student was walking back to her car when someone grabbed her hijab from behind and yanked it backward. She struggled to breathe as the man pulled hard at her head scarf. The attack lasted just a few seconds. Altun fought back by leaning forward, and when her attacker let go she fell hard to her knees. The man did not say a word, she said. Dooa Abdel-Rahman, President of San Jose State’s Muslim Student Association, said, “Some of them actually did decide to take off the scarf and some of the parents were concerned with their children. So they either told them to stay home or to take off their scarf ”.
San Jose State Sophomore, Esra Altun, pulled down by her hijab in attack in campus garage.
“This is my home and I want my rights protected.” pic.twitter.com/FtGIeWPx8j— Matt Keller (@MattKellerABC7) November 10, 2016
Victim Statement: Esra Altun, 19, – “I was trying to gasp for air, I couldn’t say or do anything. I was paralyzed. This is my home and I want my rights protected. I want other people’s rights protected. And I want to live safely. That’s all I want”.
Maple Grove Senior High School, Maple Grove, Minnesota: Police and officials at Maple Grove Senior High say have launched an investigation into racist, pro-Donald Trump graffiti. The photos of the graffiti in the bathroom include the words ‘#gobacktoafrica’, ‘#whitesonly’ and ‘#whiteamerica’. It also included the pro-Trump messages ‘Trump Train’ and ‘Make America Great Again’. Maple Grove Police that they have launched an investigation. “This type of behavior is highly offensive, will not be tolerated and does not reflect the views of the Maple Grove community,” read a statement released to the media.
Dewitt Junior High School, DeWitt, Michigan: Officials and parents are looking for answers following reports that students at DeWitt Junior High School formed a human wall to block minority students from getting to their destinations in the morning. Corina Gonzalez says her 12-year-old daughter – who is Hispanic – was stopped from going to her locker by a group of boys who told her to go back to her country and that they were going to “make America great again.” The incident is just one of what appears to be a handful of racially-motivated confrontations that happened at the school the morning after the presidential election.
November 11
Dacula High School, Gwinnett County, Dacula, Georgia: A Muslim teacher said she was left a note telling her her headscarf is no longer allowed and she should hang herself with it. The note read ‘Why don’t you tie it around your neck & hang yourself with it’ and was signed ‘America!’. She said she was shocked and disturbed but told the students she was happy to speak with them if there were questions about her hijab.
Victim Statement: Mairah Teli, 24, – “I feel children feel safe making comments that are racist or sexist because of him [Trump]. We are living in a time when there is a lot of disagreement, a lot of conflict. It’s important to teach them how to disagree (respectfully). Spreading hate isn’t going to ‘make America great again’”
November 12
Reed College, Portland, Oregon: College administrators said they were taken aback after hateful, threatening messages were discovered on the school’s library walls.
Vandals wrote ‘the white man is back in power you f**ing f****ts’, ‘Fuck all you liberal N***ers’, drew swastikas and scrawled notes with abusive language.
Compiled by Elham Asaad Buaras
© The Muslim News 2016
