The Height of Intolerance: The Recent Attack on the Islamic Center of Dayton

The recent chemical attack on the Islamic center of Dayton CANNOT be tolerated. This was a truly despicable act brought out of ethnic and religious intolerance. As Daytonians, as Americans- we cannot stand for this. We have allowed fear and poison against Muslims into our radio stations, news broadcasts, presidential election, and daily lives. It is absolutely unacceptable. Christianity, like Islam has extremist groups. Most Christians are not judged based on the actions of the KKK (which is a "Christian" organization). Why should Muslims be treated as such? Why should they experience prejudice because of extremist factions?

We cannot allow our fellow Daytonians to be prey to these kinds of attacks. Every American is guaranteed freedom, liberty, and justice in this country. Every, single man, woman, and child. Let me be perfectly plain: This was a terrorist attack against muslim individuals. Individuals who were peacefully practicing their religion. They were attacked on a holiday- one of the holiest days of their religious calendar. Many of these individuals, likely immigrants, came to this country to pursue the aforementioned freedoms guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution.

To say that I am infuriated would be an understatement. The Dayton City Police have stated that "they do not have evidence to suggest this was a hate crime at this time." Are you kidding me? How could this not be a hate crime?! Why is this not on the front page of every news channel's website in Dayton? Why hasn't the DDN brought about more coverage? I am OUTRAGED by this. This was a HATE crime. The DDN referred to this as an "incident." Let's be honest, people. This was a CRIME. Not an incident. The cowards who committed this crime needed to be apprehended and put to justice.

ALL Americans deserve justice. The members of the Dayton Islamic Center deserve justice. They deserve solidarity. They deserve the liberty guaranteed to them by our Constitution. This is OUR city. We need to demonstrate to the people of the Dayton Islamic Center that they are welcome here. WE stand by them and We will NOT tolerate this hatred in OUR COMMUNITY.

Comments

[Bill Pote]

Hilary - though I've talked about the same thing on our forum, I am now thinking this may be premature seeing that the police are now insisting that no foul-play was involved. That is interesting since a 10 year-old girl reported two men spraying a substance through an open window. It is interesting that the police have said nothing more about that report, and the local media seems to be unwilling to investigate further.

Here is the latest report:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/29/ddn092908mosquefoloweb.html

I also have not seen this reach national media, and it now appears that the case is already closed. We shall see...

[Hilary ross]

The original DDN article, here, discusses the child. http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/26/ddn092608evacweb.html

Eye witnesses state that the irritants were sprayed into the children's play room. Hence why the only witness is a child. If an adult had been the witness, more credibility would be lent. The police have buried the issue, the DDN has downplayed it to an "incident."

I stand by my argument. It has not been picked up by major newspapers, but the article did appear in prominent blogs, like DailyKos, AmericaBlog, and Digg.com. Also on Firedoglake. Comments on DailyKos and Digg.com again suggest that our city is full of intolerant idiots. One comment suggested it was "just another reason to hate Ohio."

If this had happened in a Christian or Jewish church, people would be angered. People would be talking. The members of the Islamic Society will remember the event, however small the police or DDN try to make it. Don't you think they will wonder if they can be safe in our community? How can we reassure them that we are behind them 100% if we are continually casting doubt and minimizing the injustice?

[Hilary Ross]

The new DDN article gives detail into the incident, which is appreciated. The facts remain that there was spray, that someone was hurt, and that it occurred at the Dayton Islamic Society. Just a week ago the ISGD finally received permission to build a mosque in Bellbrook that was met with opposition. DDN article here: http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/18/ddn091808mosqueweb.html

Why would someone just spray something into a window? Specifically the window of the Islamic Center. It's not like it's an unmarked building or an abandoned building where it could be simply an accident.

Even if the individual sprayed into the facility without the intent of harming someone, just to prove a point, that is still a crime.

[Jeff]

I wonder about the Sugarcreek mosque connection.

I blogged on the Sugarcreek Mosque controversy, being pretty suprised about what went down there:

http://daytonology.blogspot.com/2008/01/moslems-are-bad-people.html

So maybe an unfortunate congruence of events..the Obsession DVD and the mosque n the news together might have motivated someone to act.

You know during the first Iraq war the St Annes Hill mosque took down signs identifying the congration as Islamic? They were already concerned about retaliation back then.

Another example of the DDN downplaying something odd is with the Latino community..check this out:

http://daytonology.blogspot.com/2008/05/are-dayton-police-profiling-inner-city.html

[Hilary Ross]

Great post, Jeff. Yes, I completely agree with you. Dayton has a long way to go in terms of tolerance. It is certainly not the worst, though, but again, not the best. We can definitely do better.