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‘Improvised Explosive Device’ Damages Minnesota Mosque

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by Aysha Qamar

Tragedy took place when a neo-Nazi entered a Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wis. fatally shooting six worshippers and wounding many others, including a police officer on Aug. 5, 2012. Five years after this tragedy, a firebomb was thrown into a Minnesota mosque, while worshippers gathered inside for morning prayers.

According to the Star Tribune, a local newspaper, there were between 15 and 20 people inside the building at the time. The attack resulted in no injuries at the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, but police say the imam’s office has been damaged.

Worshippers managed to extinguish the fire before firefighters arrived, according to a statement from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched an investigation into the attack caused by an “improvised explosive device, around 5 a.m. local time.

David Joles/Star Tribune

Richard Thorton, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis Division, said that the investigation will determine whether the incident was a hate crime and who may have been behind it.

In a statement, Thornton said the investigation was the agency’s “top priority”, with his office adding on Twitter that “all hands [are] on deck”

The FBI has not announced any arrests or publicly identified any suspects.

A witness reported seeing something being thrown at the imam’s office window from a van or truck before the blast, Asad Zaman, the society’s director, told reporters.

Prior to the attack, the predominantly Somali mosque, has received threatening calls and emails, Mohamed Omar, the mosque’s executive director told local media.

“It was 5am. The whole neighborhood was calm. People were supposed to be sleeping, that how peaceful this should be,” he said. “I was shocked to learn this happened”.

Unfortunately, the mosque was unable to afford security cameras that could have captured the attack.

The local chapter’s civil rights director, Amir Malik, said that “if a bias motive is proven, this attack would represent another in a long list of hate incidents targeting Islamic institutions nationwide in recent months”.

The number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the US has nearly tripled since Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign in 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. It reported that the number of organizations opposing Muslims “leaped” from 34 in 2015 to 101 this past year.

The President has not yet spoken about the attack, with many angered at his lack of acknowledgment.

Minnesota state Governor Mark Dayton has called the bombing a “criminal act of terrorism” after visiting the site.

A GoFundMe page has been created “to garner support to rebuild this community center and mosque damaged after an Islamophobic attack,” the page reads.

David Joles/Star Tribune

Many have called for justice and supported members of the community, with the fundraising page raising more than 69,000, at this time.

Although the incident has been described as unimaginable and horrific, the support has strengthened the community.

“Good people came out, and they outnumber that one bad guy, and we are so pleased and so happy to see this community coming together in our support,” Omar said.

If you’d like to donate to rebuild the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center, visit their fundraising page here.

driver

Queens Assemblyman Reintroduces Taxi Driver Protection Act

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by Aysha Qamar

“He asked me, ‘Where you from?’ So I told him, ‘I’m from Pakistan.’ And then he asked me, ‘What is your religion?’ So I told him, ‘I’m Muslim,’ because I am Muslim,” Anwar Syed, the victim, told reporters.

What started off as any ordinary ride, turned into a vicious beating of an Uber driver when the passenger asked Uber driver, Syed, to pull over. According to police, that’s when, 23-year-old, Phillip Gannotta grabbed Syed’s flashlight and beat him blow after blow.

“He hit me so hard that I knocked out,” Syed said.

Police say, Gannotta beat him bloody with a flashlight and left him unconscious lying in the street. Gannotta then kicked out the rear passenger window fracturing Syed’s eye socket.

This incident that took place in February in Bellmore, Long Island may bring about new laws aimed at protecting drivers.

“My son went to school, his psychiatrist called me and he asked me could you please talk to him because he’s very disturbed. My daughter is very disturbed. My son is only 9 years old, my daughter is 13 years old,” Syed said.

Syed spent five days in the hospital. He developed severe headaches and blurry vision from the incident and what is even scarier, he said, is the lack of state laws present to protect him. Currently, if you hit a train conductor or bus driver the act is considered a felony or assault, however attacking a cab driver is merely considered a misdemeanor.

While still afraid like others, Syed has no choice but to continue doing his job. Fear will always exist for people of color and of marginalized communities until laws are in place to protect them.

“I am scared, but like you know got to go to work, got to go to work. That’s it,” Syed said. “No New Yorker should worry about being attacked for simply doing our job. I call on lawmakers to protect taxi and ride share drivers before another life is shattered.”

State Assemblyman Ron Kim from Queens is trying to change that and toughen penalties on attacks against cab drivers. Legislation is being re-introduced in which the same protections for MTA bus drivers and train conductors would be applied to cab drivers.

Kim gathered with drivers who had been victims of assault at Flushing Town Hall this past week. He provided details for his amended bill called the Taxi Driver Protection Act, in which the penalty for attacking on-the-job for-hire drivers will rise from a misdemeanor to a felony. He said that it would do so by adding for-hire drivers to a list of occupations which currently includes public transportation workers, for which assault is a felony and [attackers] could be sentenced up to 25 years in prison.

“If you attack a public transit worker, a bus driver, EMT worker it’s an automatic felony and the public understands that,” Kim said. “All we’re asking is to extend the same kind of protection for these drivers who are working the late night shifts to make sure they feel protected.”

State legislation in regards to raising the penalty for assaulting a for-hire driver in New York was originally introduced in 2013 and then reintroduced in 2014, but did not pass legislation. It is now being reintroduced due to the recent attacks against minorities.

The bill would require a sign to be posted in for-hire cars informing passengers of the legal consequences of assaulting drivers. According to Kim, such a law already exists in New York City and the bill would extend it to the rest of the state.

“These assaults against drivers are completely unacceptable,” said Kim. “The fact that the victims’ ethnicity or beliefs may have influenced the attacker’s decision is even more despicable.”

While many attacks go unreported, in the past two weeks, there have been reports of two suspected hate crimes against a Sikh driver in the Bronx and a Muslim driver on Long Island.

“Taxi drivers are more likely than any other workers to be victims of violence on the job,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. “Drivers in New York City are almost all immigrants and largely Muslim and Sikh, and they face more risk than ever.”

“We want to send a strong message. Don’t attack drivers who are predominantly from minority and immigrant communities. These individuals are out there working hard putting food on the table,” Kim said to Reporters.