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Arsonist torches Muslim store in Washington: July 10, 2004 - American Muslim organizations have called on local and national leaders to address the issue of growing Islamophobic prejudice following an arson attack on a Muslim-owned business in Washington State. They also called on the FBI to investigate the fire as a possible hate crime. According to media reports, white crosses and "F U Arab" were spray-painted inside a Middle Eastern grocery store in Everett, Washington, that was heavily damaged by an intentionally set fire early Friday morning. (The owner of the store is from Pakistan.) Firefighters found a gas can inside the store. Investigators estimate the damage at $90,000. Detectives are investigating whether an early Friday morning ( 7/9/2004) arson in Everett is actually a hate crime, KOMO TV reported. Whoever set a Middle Eastern grocery store on fire also left behind a message. What's left of Continental Spices is burnt out and boarded up. As soon as fire fighters arrived, they could smell the gasoline. They found an empty gas and racist graffiti left behind. The American Muslim Voice Executive Director, Samina Faheem Sundas, said that the recent rise in Muslim businesses and Islamic centers is alarming because it that shows a pattern of hate crime. “We demand that these attacks should be investigated by the FBI as hate crimes. “I would like to see some response from my fellow Americans, especially the activists, ethnic community leaders, faith groups & religious leaders, media members, academia's, our administration and of course any fair, peaceful and just person. Please break the cycle of violence by breaking the silence about hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs.” If a bias motive is proven in Seatle arson case, it will be yet another indication that our nation's leaders need to more forcefully address the rising level of anti-Muslim prejudice in America, said Samia El-Moslimany, board chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Seattle. On July 7, CAIR's Houston office called on law enforcement authorities to investigate a bomb attack on an area mosque as a possible bias crime. Suspects have been apprehended in that case, but the motive has not yet been established. Earlier this year in Texas, a man was arrested for threatening an El Paso Islamic center, an arson suspect was arrested at the scene of a fire at a Muslim business in San Antonio and vandals scrawled racist graffiti on the interior of a Lubbock mosque. Incidents targeting Muslim individuals and Islamic institutions have occurred recently across America. A Muslim woman driver in Illinois and a Muslim shopper in California were assaulted at the end of June by attackers shouting anti-Muslim and racist slurs. In Florida, vandals wrote "Kill all Muslims" inside the Islamic Community Center in the Tampa suburb of Lutz. The FBI is also investigating vandalism and threatening messages targeting the Islamic Community of Southwest Florida in Charlotte Harbor. In Missouri, vandals painted a Nazi swastika and the word "die" on an addition under construction at the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis. Three Miami Islamic centers were vandalized. In response to these incidents, CAIR published a "Muslim Community Safety Kit." |