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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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A 12-year-old black girl walking home from school. Gay pals leaving a bar.

A Trump family friend watching TV.

A Muslim veteran driving to work.

In 2018, they all became victims of a record-setting year of hatred in D.C.

By Michael E. Miller | Published August 21, 2019 | Washington Post | Posted August 21, 2019 1:58 PM ET |

The girl had tutoring after class that day, so she was alone as she left Alice Deal Middle School and began walking the mile to her apartment.

“Mommy,” the 12-year-old said on her cellphone. “I’m on my way home.”

But as the black seventh-grader turned down a quiet street in Northwest Washington, she said, she noticed a white man watching her. When he began walking her way, the girl crossed to the other side of the road. She had just ducked under the low bough of a magnolia tree when she heard something behind her.

As she turned, the man lunged at her, she recalled.

The girl fell on her back in a stranger’s front yard, screaming as the man pinned her down.

“Shut the f--- up, n-----,” he said, according to a police report.

The girl said she was able to hit him in the face and kick him in the groin. As he rolled off her, she sprinted home, sobbing.

“I thought I wasn’t going to see my mom ever again,” said the girl, whom The Washington Post agreed not to name because she is a child and a crime victim.

The Nov. 28 incident was one of a record 204 suspected hate crimes in the capital last year. The true number is probably higher because, experts say, many hate crimes are not reported to police. Even so, the District has the highest rate per capita of any major city in the United States, according to Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.

As reports of hate crimes have surged across the country, much of the attention has been focused onwhite-supremacy-inspired mass shootings in Pittsburgh and El Paso and an attack by an avowed neo-Nazi in Charlottesville.

In Washington, the arrest of a self-professed white nationalist allegedly plotting with his brother to spark a race war made national headlines. Meanwhile, the reported attack on the seventh-grader — just two weeks later and a few miles away — received no media coverage. That was true of the vast majority of suspected hate crimes in the District in 2018.

The Washington Post examined all 204 incidents investigated by police as hate crimes, interviewing two dozen victims and several suspects. What emerged was a portrait of pervasive bigotry and violence: gay men and women assaulted on the street, transgender people threatened by strangers, African Americans taunted with slurs, Muslims harassed for wearing headscarves, synagogues subjected to anti-Semitic calls.

Roughly half were violent crimes ranging from robbery to sexual abuse to assault, which was the most common offense.

Yet most suspected hate crimes go unpunished in the District. Despite a strong push by police to identify and investigate bias-motivated incidents, there were no arrests in roughly two-thirds of the cases, The Post found. Of the adult suspects identified, just 55 faced charges of any kind. None has been convicted of a hate crime.

D.C. police say the seemingly random nature of some hate crimes can make arrests difficult, and racist or anti-Semitic graffiti can be tough to trace to a culprit. “We have a robust and comprehensive process,” said Lt. Brett Parson, commander of the Special Liaison Branch, which investigates suspected hate crimes.

Jessie K. Liu, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement Tuesday that her office takes hate crimes “very seriously” and recently added a second coordinator to prosecute them. “We continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police Department to investigate these cases, and with victims to pursue justice in them,” she said.

The city’s year of hatred began in January with a ride-share that descended into racist violence. It ended 12 months later in an alley, where a bisexual man was assaulted with a frying pan. In between, simmering biases boiled over on a near-daily basis. Road rage accelerated into racism. Roommates threatened to kill one another over politics. An elevator ride ended with one neighbor’s hands around another’s neck.

“It’s always the same with you Spanish, Latin American people,” one female Lyft passenger allegedly told another on Jan. 17, 2018, before punching her in the face. “You come to this country and steal from us.”

Nearly half of the victims belonged to the District’s large LGBTQ community. There was also a surge of partisan hatred in the most political of cities as supporters of President Trump were attacked and his critics received death threats.

Many people who track hate crimes see a connection between Trump’s ugly political rhetoric aimed at immigrants and people of color and what has been unleashed in communities across the country.

“Look at the environment that our nation’s leaders have created,” said Bobbi Strang, president of the District’s Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance. “Everywhere people are feeling empowered to say and act according to their worst impulses.”

Or as Levin put it: “We are seeing a democratization of hate.”

Michael Creason and Zach Link were drinking at the Dirty Goose — a gay bar on U Street just two miles from the White House — when Link decided it was time to order his friend a ride home.

It was about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 15, 2018. As the two walked hand-in-hand on the busy sidewalk toward an Uber, a group of men bumped into Creason. When Link followed them and demanded to know why they had jostled his friend, the group attacked.

“You f------ fags,” one of the men said, before punching Link in the face.

As a bystander filmed on her cellphone, two men punched and kicked Link as he lay on the ground. When Creason tried to help him, a third man blindsided him with a blow to the back of the head.

“What’s going on?” said the woman filming, as Link spat out his teeth and Creason lay unconscious in the street.

The video of the attack went viral. For the LGBTQ community, it was a reminder that this city of 700,000 people, often viewed as one of America’s most gay-friendly, is also home to more reports of homophobic hate crimes than almost anywhere in the country.

The 61 anti-gay and 33 anti-transgender incidents investigated by D.C. police last year easily eclipse those in the 18 other big cities Levin has studied, including New York, with 8.5 million people, and Los Angeles, with 4 million.

How the targets of hatred vary from city to city

The victims of suspected hate crimes often reflect the makeup of their city, as D.C., with a large LGBT community, and New York, with a large Jewish population, demonstrate.

Washington D.C.

Sexual orientation 61

Race 39

Ethnicity 36

Gender identity 33

Religion 25

New York

Jewish 189

Black 45

Sexual orientation 45

Muslim 18

White 17

San Francisco

Race or ethnicity 38

Sexual orientation 16

Religion 9

Gender nonconformity 2

Multiple bias motivations 1

Seattle

Gay or lesbian 34

Black 24

White 12

Jewish 6

Asian 6

Note: Hate crimes based on each city’s classification. The Post categorized some incidents differently than D.C. Police.

Source: Washington figures based on a Post analysis of D.C. police data. Other cities based on data from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism; California State University, San Bernardino

One reason may be the sheer size of the District’s LGBTQ community — about 10 percent of the city’s residents. Police also attribute the record number of attacks to better reporting and closer relations between law enforcement and gay and transgender residents.

Activists agree but also say the climate is worse now than it was a few years ago.

“We see the evidence in hate-crime statistics,” said Strang, the gay and lesbian alliance president, “and we see the evidence in viral YouTube videos.”

In 2018, a gay man was threatened in the locker room of his gym. A woman came home to find her gay pride flag smeared with feces. A lesbian was called a “dyke” and body slammed by her own brother who said “if she wanted to act like a man, he would treat her like a man,” according to a police report.

Rudolph Williams was dancing at a nightclub on Feb. 3, 2018, when another clubgoer asked him to move. Williams, who is openly gay, responded that he was “just listening to the music.”

Suddenly, he said, he was struck in the head with a champagne bottle.

“I felt the warmth of the blood run down my face,” he recalled, and the man who wanted him to move laughed. “He said, ‘You faggy motherf-----.’ That’s when I knew it was deliberate,” Williams said.

Transgender men and women also were frequent targets of abuse, especially those who were homeless.

In September, Kristen Laird was settling in for another night near Dupont Circle when she was approached by a man who asked whether she was a man or a woman. When Laird said she was transsexual, Mickey Crawford — who was also homeless and has a long criminal record, including a sexual assault conviction — demanded sex. When she refused, Crawford said he would come back later and rape her.

“I get harassed on a fairly consistent basis,” Laird told The Post. “But this last one scared me.”

A week earlier, she and her partner had been hit by a teenager wielding a bicycle helmet. Neither incident was prosecuted as a hate crime. Crawford, who pleaded guilty and said he had a drinking problem, was sentenced to 180 days’ time served.

Another transgender woman at a homeless shelter downtown found a piece of paper in her locker that read: “BITCH THIS WOMEN’S SHELTER LEAVE BEFORE WE KILL YOU, FAGGOT.”

Transgender people were pistol-whipped and spit upon, attacked while taking out the trash and visiting the library. In December, the National Center for Transgender Equality received three threats in less than 24 hours, including one promising to “rid the earth of scum and garbage like you.”

Each incident reverberated through a tightknit community still reeling from the death of Deeniquia “Dee Dee” Dodds, a transgender woman who was killed during a 2016 armed robbery.

After the attack on U Street, Creason woke up in a hospital bed with no memory of the incident. Then someone sent him the video.

“It’s not a fun experience to see yourself dropped like a rag doll in the middle of the street,” Creason told The Post. He sent the video to the police, who released images of the suspects, along with a plea for relevant information.

None came. The attack is one of 128 suspected hate crimes that remain unsolved.

On a Saturday evening in October, a man with an assault rifle walked into a Pittsburgh synagogue and opened fire, shouting "All Jews must die." By the time he was arrested, 11 people were dead.

Two days later, before the victims of America’s deadliest anti-Semitic attack had been buried, the phone rang at the Washington Hebrew Congregation.

“I’m so glad that 11 people died at the other temple,” the caller told a receptionist. “I wanted you to know.”

Anti-Semitic hate crimes are on the rise across the country. In Washington, the call on Oct. 29, 2018, was one of 17 suspected anti-Semitic hate crimes last year, according to The Post’s analysis of police reports.

Most of those involved swastikas scrawled in visible locations: a store window in Georgetown, a mailbox downtown, the girls’ bathroom at an elite private high school. One man walked out of his house on a wintry morning in Chevy Chase to find the Nazi symbol freshly drawn in the frost.

Police also investigated reports of seven anti-Muslim incidents — up from two in 2017 — and one anti-Hindu incident, The Post found.

In October, a man came to the headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and started yelling, “I hate Muslims,” according to a police report. When asked to leave, he made a throat-cutting gesture at a receptionist.

A deaf student at Gallaudet University reported being stalked for months online by a man who mocked her for being Muslim and told her “Trump is going to kill you.”

“I blocked him again and again, but he kept coming back every time, making new Instagram accounts,” the student told The Post via a sign-language interpreter. “He was constantly messaging me, every day, 10 to 15 times.”

The Post generally does not identify the victims of crimes without their permission. The student, who did not want to be named, said she had grown up in New York City, where she had been threatened with a gun after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But nothing had shaken her like her Instagram stalker.

“Anytime I go outside, I feel like I’m constantly looking behind my back,” she said. “Being Muslim and deaf, I feel like I can’t trust anyone.”

Sarah Amer, a Palestinian American, was driving to work in downtown Washington in June 2018 when she spotted a woman panhandling on the side of road. As Amer rolled down her window to give her money, the woman noticed Amer’s hijab.

“You f------ terrorist,” the woman screamed, according to Amer. “Go back to your country.”

Then the woman began hitting Amer’s car with a shoe.

Amer drove away and reported what happened to the police. But that incident and others she has endured cut deep for the Air Force and Peace Corps veteran. She recently stopped wearing her hijab, a decision that led some family members and friends to question her faith.

“After years of abuse — mental, emotional and physical — now I’m in the clear,” she said. “If this brings judgment, it’s between me and God.”

There was no such option for the synagogues that started receiving threats in March 2018. The first target was Tifereth Israel Congregation . Then a male caller threatened to sexually assault a female employee at the National Synagogue across the street.

In October, after the deadly attack on the synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Washington Hebrew Congregation received a flurry of voice mails that said: “Go [to] hell Jew,” “Hitler’s trash” and “F--- your Torah,” according to court records.

The calls finally stopped in November with the arrest of a mentally troubled man named Yohanes Lemma.

Lemma is no white supremacist. This spring, the Ethiopian immigrant welcomed a reporter into his small apartment in Takoma Park, Md., full of plastic flowers and photos of his wife. As his 4-year-old son watched videos on a cellphone and ate ice cream, Lemma described moving to the United States in 2006 after winning the green-card lottery.

A devout Christian and now a U.S. citizen, Lemma said he never had a problem with Jews in Ethiopia. But a few years ago, he said, he began to feel a strange sensation in the back of his head.

“I feel the Jewish people attack me and my son,” he said.

Lemma admitted to leaving the threatening messages, including the call he made two days after the Pittsburgh massacre.

“I made a mistake,” he said. “I didn’t know this was a crime because I am a foreigner.”

A few weeks after speaking to The Post, Lemma pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor stalking — not a hate crime — and on May 3 received a suspended sentence of 365 days and five years’ probation, which includes mental health screening.

But Lemma also told The Post that he still thought his family was somehow under attack from Jews, adding that next time, instead of threatening synagogues, “maybe I will go to the police station.”

The man was watching his friend Tucker Carlson on TV, texting the conservative talk show host during commercial breaks, when he heard a bang.

As Carlson railed against a migrant caravan, the man walked to the front of his townhouse, where he could hear someone shouting. When he looked outside, he said, he saw about half a dozen people pelting his home with rocks.

As he dialed 911, the glass door suddenly shattered.

The rock had “F--- TRUMP” written on it.

“This has been nonstop,” said the man, a GOP donor and Trump family friend who The Post agreed not to name because he was the victim of a crime.

“I am probably going to have to move out of D.C.,” he said. “I’m not safe.”

The incident in mid-November was one of 10 politically fueled hate-crime reports last year, according to D.C. police. Washington is one of the few cities in the country that counts political affiliation as a basis for hate crimes.

Victims include the famous and the ordinary, conservatives and liberals.

In March 2018, a preschool teacher was waiting in line at a taco restaurant near Dupont Circle when she interrupted two women as they criticized the president.

“I support Donald Trump,” said the teacher, who said she still fears for her safety and asked not to be named. As an argument erupted, the teacher began filming on her phone. Seconds later, the two women attacked her, breaking her finger and bursting a blood vessel in her eye, she said. Her video of the assault went viral as conservative websites cited it as an example of liberal intolerance.

A year later, the teacher told The Post she is still paying off her hospital bills and seeing a therapist.

A Latina, she said she voted for Barack Obama and then Hillary Clinton in 2016, before taking a shine to Trump after the election. But she said the attack — committed by two black women who were not apprehended — had left her wary of African Americans.

“I’m dealing with a lot of trauma and anger,” she said. “If I see a group of people who are black, it’s like I can’t say anything anymore because it’s like they are going to attack me.”

“I don’t want to think that way,” she said.

Most of the reported incidents came within a month or so of the midterm election. Only one has led to an arrest, police records show.

On Oct. 26, a letter arrived at the D.C. office of Gara LaMarche, president of the progressive Democracy Alliance.

“I know who you are, what you look like, where you work, where you live, and what you drive,” the letter said, according to a police report. “I’m an ex-Army Ranger who has access to classified information about everyone in this country. . . . So, I think I’ll pay you a visit soon. What do you think will happen then? Trust me — it will be the worst day in your life!”

“This was the same week pipe bombs were being sent to people” around the country, LaMarche told The Post. “The atmosphere was kind of unnerving.”

Tucker Carlson himself was the target of another politically motivated incident, police said.

Protesters calling themselves “Smash Racism D.C.” gathered outside his house the night after the midterm election to denounce his harsh anti-immigration rhetoric. Carlson wasn’t home, but his wife was. As she locked herself in the pantry and called 911, a protester with a bullhorn blasted him for “promoting hate.”

“We want you to know, we know where you sleep at night,” the person said.

Carlson’s friend, the GOP donor, said police didn’t take it seriously when his back door was smashed a week later. They ignored surveillance footage and dismissed the idea of dusting the rock for fingerprints, he said. After he offered to turn the rock over to federal law enforcement agents, the police changed their minds, he said. Police later told him the rock was too porous to test.

D.C. police said they investigated the case thoroughly, including the rock and surveillance video, but could not identify the culprits.

After the incident, the donor said, more glass was broken, patio furniture was tipped over, sandwiches were thrown at his windows, and sushi was left to rot on his grill. He didn’t call police again.

“It’s not like they said, ‘Stop bothering us,’ ” he said. “But I got the sense that they thought they had bigger things to deal with.”

Not long ago, he moved.

It wasn't until later after the police interviews — that the black middle-schooler had time to think about the slur she said her white attacker had shouted as he pinned her to the ground. She had heard the word before growing up in the District. But never like that, she said, never so full of hate and menace.

At least a dozen times last year, African Americans were called the n-word during suspected hate crimes in the District.

One man heard it as he was spit upon; another as he was attacked with a bicycle lock; a third as he was driving, when a man in a pickup truck next to him shouted it while brandishing a handgun, according to police reports.

In April 2018, a woman visiting the once-segregated Banneker swimming pool — built for blacks in 1934 — returned to her car to find her tires and seats slashed and “N-----” scrawled on the hood.

There were 75 suspected hate crimes in 2018 motivated by race or ethnicity, up from 65 in 2017, The Post found: 26 against African Americans, 24 against Hispanics, 15 against whites, six against Asians, three against people perceived to be of Arab descent and one against all nonwhites. (The Post sometimes classified the type of suspected hate crime differently than D.C. police, and counted the incidents by the year in which they occurred.)

The reports reflected an increasingly diverse city where many neighborhoods are changing, but where many prejudices persist.

An Indian woman was spat upon in a Chinese restaurant in Adams Morgan by the director of a Polish American cultural organization, according to one police report. Two Asian women were allegedly attacked on separate occasions while shopping. A woman became angry at employees at a Popeyes chicken restaurant for speaking Spanish and began throwing things at them.

Occasionally, the suspects’ language echoed that of President Trump.

A Latina told police that a stranger grabbed her buttocks near the Mall, then told her to “get out of the U.S.” and “go back to her country.” Two Hispanic men were approached on U Street late one night by two strangers who called them “MS-13,” a reference to the gang, before punching and kicking them, according to a police report.

The day after the midterm election, a Hispanic woman was crossing the street when the driver of a car told her to “Go back to Mexico,” according to another report. The woman then told the motorist, who was black, to “Go back to Africa,” prompting him to get out of his car and punch her in the mouth.

For the seventh-grader, the racist attack during her walk home from school in November deeply shook the girl , who had only recently moved to the neighborhood.

“The first three nights, she woke me up, screaming,” her mother said. “She dreamed that the man was following her again, or that he was in our house.”

The girl said she initially distanced herself from white friends. She told only one classmate about the incident.

“I don’t want people to think I’m looking for attention,” she said.

A week after she and her mother reported the attack, police suspended their investigation.

“There was no video recovered that would have assisted this case,” police said in a statement. “Cases are suspended when the detective [has] exhausted all leads.”

The girl, now 13, said what happened has shaken her faith in adults, white people and the police.

“I feel like the detective thought I was lying,” she said. “I’m not going to lie about something that traumatic.”

Peter Hermann and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

#hate groups #hate speech #hate crimes #trumpism #trump administration #trump scandals #president donald trump #donald trump jr #melania trump #trumpsucks #against trump #be best #benjamin netanyahu #israel #u.s. news #u.s. department of justice #u.s. government #fbi

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nicemango-feed · 7 years ago

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Qasim Rashid's Tasteless Independent Piece about Sex Abuse

I was appalled to see this article on Twitter the other day. I don't even have the words to express how tacky and distasteful this is. As the far-right rises in the West, I find myself more interested in pushing back against that (since it's more of an urgent issue impacting our day to day existence here).....than constantly criticizing Islam in a climate where Muslims are singled out, generalized and targeted. Nuanced and legitimate criticisms are lost anyway nowadays, to fear-mongering about Mooz-lums raping their way across the globe to secretly instill Shariah. But then there comes a situation where you just have to rebut something as stupid and insensitive as the article above...with all you've got. Hopefully, my rebuttal won't get lost with ignorant takes like: "Islam is worse than Nazism" or "90% of Muslims are ticking time-bombs"... ..so here goes: With all the overuse and false accusations of "Regressive Left" floating around atheist twitter, its hard for an actual left-leaning person to recall a time when this term had meaning and referred to an actual problem. Well, this article is a great reminder on how the left can utterly fail in the way it deals with the topic of Islam. I can't believe such an article was approved and put out by such a well known publication. What were they thinking? Who is making these decisions? I mean...they may come from the perspective that they're doing this to offset the increasing anti-muslim bigotry, to normalize Muslims in a political climate where they become dehumanized more and more each day....but they can't seem to comprehend that defending Muslims can be separated from championing Islam. Before seeing this one, I came across quite a few tasteless takes regarding the awful Weinstein scandal. It seemed everywhere I looked someone was hijacking it to further their own agenda. A few standard "Oh you think Weinstein is bad, but what about Islam...that's way worse!!" type takes from ex-muslims that I've become used to seeing....and cringing at. Oh you think the alt right/white nationalism/nazism is bad? What about ISLAM - it's way worse!!" It seems, that some are incapable of discussing anything other than that one topic (which makes it all the more off-putting for me). There's a time and a place....there's a way to acknowledge multiple problems without minimizing the suffering of Weinstein's victims. This isn't to say, of course that when the conversation is turned towards sexual abuse that we cannot also bring up other forms that people often let slide.... especially when religion gets a pass on everything. I saw some Saudi feminists bring up some important points about how migrant domestic workers are assaulted on an everyday basis in Saudi society by privileged Saudi men...who get away with it. But they didn't do the, "Oh you think Weinstein is bad? Well Saudi men can be WAY worse" thing....where they bring the other topic to light only by minimizing the harm that Weinstein did. That is the difference.....one that many 'but what about Islam' types don't understand. "Yes we have similar problems too which we need to discuss" is a whole lot different from "Oh, Pfft, this? It's nothing compared to the cause *I've* dedicated *my* life to. And you know what, no one's perfect we're all likely to fall into that trap accidentally sometimes... but the ones who have a distinct repeated pattern of constantly being unable to address any issue without the added, "but what about Islam/The left" have become incredibly unhelpful voices. ...Speaking of unhelpful and cringeworthy voices though..I have to say Qasim Rashid, the author of the Independent piece is one of the worst I've encountered on this issue. The 'but what about Islam' takes are bad, but fuck....using a sex scandal to spread religious propaganda, to *proselytize*.... is a whole new level of scummy. Not only is it scummy but he goes about it in the most dishonest way. Yes we should absolutely encourage liberal, progressive interpretations of Islam. I find it incredibly unhelpful when people hold every liberal muslim to an 'ISIS purity test', that basically no one passes...and therefore the only 'real' muslims are the extremists. That is not a good approach. But, when it comes to more progressive interpretations of religion there are those who acknowledge the plurality and plausibility of multiple interpretations. They admit that some verses are just not ok by today's values. People like Qasim however will argue that everyone else has it wrong... they've misinterpreted and HE somehow has the correct interpretation. They cherry pick without acknowledging they are cherry picking, unlike more honest reformists who openly say that cherry picking is the path forward. Like all the Abrahamic religions, obviously...Islam too is full of contradictory crap er...stuff. So naturally you can pick a bunch of things that sound alright, or you can pick a bunch of things that sound barbaric. But if you really want to look at the whole picture you can't ignore either...both anti-muslims and apologists for scripture like to ignore the aspect convenient to their narrative and push the other. "Islam is PURE EVIL" or "Islam is PERFECT and PEACEFUL and FEMINIST" .... there are some pretty vile, murderous, misogynistic, hateful things in there...certainly some of that is 'evil'....but there are some alright bits that are cherry picked by modern progressive muslims, which makes most of them peaceful. 'Perfect', it certainly is not...'feminist'...nope. Be wary of anyone claiming either of those. I mean its absurd on the face of it...morals from centuries ago are simply not going to work today. If you try to claim they are *perfect* for today, then you're endorsing or twisting some pretty awful shit. Anyway.... *Cracks knuckles* Lets get into it....this fuckin' article. What a crock of shit. "My advocacy is informed not just by the law, but by strategies detailed in Islamic teachings and Prophet Muhammad’s example to pre-empt sexual abuse." Almost spit my beverage all over my keyboard...thanks for that Qasim. Would Mo's example pre-empt sexual abuse here?

From Sahih Bukhari

Slavery too....if defined by scripture is permissible in Islam....and slaves were to accept that owners are allowed to sleep with them at will. As stated in Quran 33:50

Obviously this is not a practice any decent Muslim would endorse today, but if you want to go by Mo's example...then it's worth mentioning. It would be one thing to make some excuse about it being a different time....and the example not measuring up by today's values... but if you are going to literally say a sex slave owner's values are what can prevent sexual abuse....I'm going to have a thing or two to say. Yes such slavery predates Islam, and so continued under Islam...I am not a fan of people using archaic texts to define an entire diverse group by today. So no this is not for you far-righters who paint all muslims as pedophilic rapists. What about this strategy detailed in the Quran, 4:34

Does making men in charge, commanding women to be obedient, and giving permission to 'strike them' also pre-empt sexual abuse?

***

I have to say I cringe a little while I'm picking out these verses to debunk this idiotic article, because I'm all too used to seeing how anti-muslims use these to dehumanize and generalize Muslims who may not even be aware of such verses. I know many like myself were taught curated versions of scripture. Religion is full of this kind of nonsense.... slavery, stoning babies, virgins...killing people who disobey...fathers ok-ing rape of their daughters for a few $$. Islam is certainly not alone in this, so think twice before painting Muslims with a broad brush. I cannot say that enough, especially in the Trumpian era.

***

"Let’s start by understanding two facts. First, a woman’s attire, alcohol intake, marital status, and education level do not contribute to sexual abuse – abusive men do. Second, sexual abuse doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Every level of society – social norms, media, and Government – is complicit in promoting the rape culture that perpetuates sexual abuse." "Social norms demonise a woman for speaking out, victim-blaming her by asking what she was wearing, whether she gave signals inviting abuse, or asking why she didn’t speak up sooner." Very good Qasim...I'm glad you pointed out that a woman's attire doesn't matter. But the Quran (24:31) seems to disagree,

Here it tells believing women not to flaunt their assets, and even wrap a portion of their headscarves/outer garments over their chests. Clearly a woman's attire mattered to Allah, and therefore Mo quite a bit. (24:60) only postmenstrual woman are allowed to cast out their 'outer garments' even then being careful not to display any 'adornment':

So Qasim, when you talk about social norms demonizing a woman, victim-blaming her by asking her what she was wearing....perhaps look honestly at the things you yourself recommended to 'pre-empt' sexual abuse. Laughable really. Don't even get me started on the punishments Islam prescribes someone for adultery...so I'm pretty sure marital status matters too. You're right when you say every level of society can be complicit in promoting a culture that perpetuates abuse....but you conveniently miss out religion - old value systems that simply didn't classify abuse in the same way we do now. If you want to be a women's advocate, how about not preaching a misogynistic religion to them while they open up about their painful abuse experiences. "state laws only punish the actor once the act is completed, they don’t prevent the act in the first place. This scenario plays out repeatedly worldwide, whether we’re discussing “revenge porn”, gender based violence, or sexual harassment in the workplace.

This is where Islamic teachings and Prophet Muhammad’s example provide a solution that no state truly can. "

What the fuck, dude. What are you even trying to say here? While you're right that banning cat calling won't work, and that it isn't preventative... what's your solution? Islam and Mohammed? Are you for fucking real right now? Are you saying that being fearful of some god that would burn you for eternity and that following in the footsteps of a prophet who's example isn't known for his fair treatment of women, who owned slaves...and consummated with a child is what will prevent sex abuse better than modern man-made law?! Right because religious people NEVER sexually abuse anyone....if only they had had access to the teachings if Islam and the example of Mo. It's embarrassing really, to even debunk this.

Read story here

"Yes, Islam implores accountability to the creator, but rather than preach empty dogmatic theories, Islam instead prescribes a proven secular model." What are you even on about? Accountability to the creator? How old are you... how well has that worked to prevent religious people from sexually abusing people or committing any crimes? Secular model? What? "Thus, the Quran 4:2 first establishes men and women as equal beings. Chapter 4:20 then forbids men from forcing a woman to act against her will, thereby ensuring women maintain autonomy and self-determination. " Now, just because theres some contradictory more benign seeming stuff in there... doesn't mean you can ignore the wife beating verse (4:34), where aside from the 'strike them' nastiness...it literally says this: "Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other" Or how about the women are your farmland... plough them however you like (just don't do anal tut tut) verse (2:223)?

I mean, I hate to put on my "let me point out all the awful verses in the Quran/Hadith" hat right now, because I know the alt/far-right loves that stuff and uses it to stir hatred for whole groups which include people like me and my family. But in the face of this tasteless absurdity, I cannot remain silent. I can only hope I put enough "I dislike anti-muslims" caveats in here that it prevents them from latching on to this particular piece. I'm not alone in feeling that my criticism of Islam is sort of stifled at the moment because it's too easily hijacked by bigots, anyone with a shred of decency is feeling that right now.

Anyway, back to this unfckingbelievably ridiculous piece. I honestly can't wrap my head around how awful it is..and what kind of person you'd have to be to write something like this, especially in the midst of a high profile hollywood sex scandal. "Here..... stop fussing about this sex scandal...and listen to all the good things about MY religion, one that has a bad reputation for it's treatment of women" ....Oh ok @ssh*le. -___- Aaand it gets a whole lot worse than I imagined. Qasim actually links to a previous even more nauseating piece he did about THE WIFE BEATING VERSE FFS, where it's a bunch of the most pathetic and weak twisted apologetics for 4:34, and it's actually titled: "The Islamic Solution to *stop* Domestic Violence" [emphasis mine] I can't....I have to take a break.....I walk away from the computer, pour a drink, take a breath. Alright, I'm back...What was I saying? Oh yeah... His fucking *solution* is the verse that says men are in charge of women and you can strike them. THAT, to him is pre-empting domestic violence.. because by making men in charge it gives them some responsibilities and shit. He's thrilled it doesn't go straight to beating....this is a good thing apparently....An 'anger management strategy' - what the actual fuck is wrong with this guy and how is he allowed to pump this shit out in mainstream liberal publications like Huffpo and Independent?? And I quote, from the Huffpo piece, "Pre-emptive deterrence is the key. And this precisely is the wisdom behind verse 4:34 to decrease and stop violence against women. The verse in its totality describes a process of restraint, anger management and reformation." 'Wisdom' he says...About an infantilizing, abusive verse that clearly doesn't hold women in high regard. Just because it doesn't jump straight to the beating, it's a process of restraint. Fucking hell. "Employed effectively, these two steps help reconcile the vast majority of domestic disputes. Should the first two steps fail, however, the Quran allows — never commands — men to consider the third step, translated as “to chastise them.” Look, it *allows* --- it doesn't *command* you to 'chastise' your wife. (since the beating isn't compulsory...that makes it totally ok) Firstly Qasim, slick replacement of strike with 'chastise'. Secondly, obviously this is only for the rarest of times...for when the first two infantilizing and humiliating methods don't work on her (that totally excuses the fact that u can resort to ..you know... beating her) If the first two steps don't sort out your domestic dispute, it's because you didn't employ these perfect strategies 'effectively'.... Of course then his article delves into semantic bullshit about how the word for strike isn't actually that. Nothing I haven't heard before...but I haven't come across anyone with the audacity to argue they are progressive *and* suggest the wife beating verse as a goddamn *solution* to domestic violence. There are many Muslims who genuinely acknowledge that this verse is not palatable today....Qasim is not one of them. He would rather twist it to say it means the opposite of what it says in mainstream interpretations of the Quran. He'd rather appear dishonest in front of anyone who knows anything about Islam. This doesn't help Muslims, or their reputation...quite the opposite in fact. So I sincerely don't understand why left leaning publications put out stuff like this. All this does is breathe fire into anti-muslim movements. It energizes them, gives them something to rally around.

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Sorry I went off into a rabbit hole there for a bit, so enough about the horrid Huffpo piece, and back on to the horrid Independent one....where were we... "And when it comes to the Islamic concept of Hijab, it is men who are first commanded to never gawk at women, and instead guard their private parts and chastity, regardless of how women choose to dress – pre-empting sexual abuse." I just love how he selectively points to the male requirements for modesty, saying that it tells men to lower their gaze... but he completely skips over the modesty requirements for women. You know, what hijab is literally KNOWN for? Slut-shaming women into covering head to toe and holding them responsible for provoking lust....no mention of the double standards about what men are required to do vs women. Of course men are commanded first because the whole Quran refers only to men directly (with a couple of exceptions)...when it refers to women it is in third person or via men..."tell your women/wives" type stuff. The Quran isn't some great feminist book, it puts men first because it only talks to *them* directly. "Accordingly, the Prophet Muhammad by example demonstrated that the burden of modesty, respect, and combating abuse of women rests on men. Indeed, men must take the lead in stopping such sexual abuse." Oh COME ON, the guy who married a six year old and had slaves? I really hate to sound like a broken record here... but Qasim is being one, so I need to keep repeating the obvious. "After all, while the Quran obliges women to dress modestly as a covenant with God, Islam prescribes no punishment whatsoever for women who choose to dress otherwise." Oh yeah totally, it's just an afterthought that the Quran obliges women to dress modestly...nothing to do with placing the blame on them for enticing men. Oh and the Quran doesn't describe the details of Salaat/prayer either....so I guess that must not be Islamic either. Here's a verse specifically commanding the wives of the prophet to stay home and not display themselves if they want to be 'purified' (funny thing is, this is one of like 2 or so verses that directly address women, and it's to tell them to not put themselves on display! Imagine that.)

O wives of the Prophet, you are not like anyone among women. If you fear Allah, then do not be soft in speech [to men], lest he in whose heart is disease should covet, but speak with appropriate speech.

And abide in your houses and do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance. And establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet's] household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification.

And 33:59 spells it out clearly, women of the believers....cover yourselves so you aren't abused.

Just because the book hasn't specifically prescribed a beating in *this* situation... (I mean... a lot could be covered under 'disobedient wives') - doesn't mean that the general climate of "stay at home, do not put yourselves on display... or else you won't be pure" crap isn't pressuring women with the threat of hellfire.

"women in Islam rise to the rank of legal scholars, warriors, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists while lovingly embracing identities as mothers and housewives.

Weinstein is a symptom of the greater disease of arrogance, unaccountability, societal apathy, and from men who knew of the abuse but did nothing. Islam and Prophet Muhammad provide a practical solution."

Oh ffs, a man who ok-ed wife beating and keeping them at home, married a child and thought women could be owned as slaves does NOT provide a practical solution to sexual abuse. You're an embarrassment Qasim.

So shameless...

"Together, we can employ a proven Islamic model that will stop this madness, and re-invoke gender equity today in America, and the world."

Who is he preaching to? How did the Independent let this happen, this is like a lecture you'd hear at Islamic Sunday School....does no one understand that this kind of horrific dishonesty, easily debunked....does nothing to help muslims.

It's a real shame this man gets a platform like this. I'll say again, who approved this and what were they thinking? Who is the audience they hoped to reach with "together lets employ an Islamic model to stop sexual abuse"? This is some bullshit 'religious right' propaganda....get it together Independent.

I'm all out of facepalms. I think that's all I got for today.

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