Category Archives: USA

Florida man stabbed because he was Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bradley StrottST. PETERSBURG — Authorities have arrested a 52-year-old man they say committed a hate crime against a man he learned was a Muslim.

According to an arrest affidavit, Bradley Kent Strott, of 4300 58th Ave. N, stabbed the unidentified victim in the neck with a pocket knife on Friday evening.

The two men had been talking about religion when the victim told Strott he was a Muslim, the report said.

“The defendant then became upset, grabbed the victim by his shirt, and stabbed him in the neck with his pocket knife,” a Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The defendant stated that Muslims are the root of the problem,”

The victim required medical treatment, the report said, but his condition was unknown Saturday.

Strott was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery and booked into the Pinellas County Jail late Friday night.

St Petersburg Times, 5 February 2011

See also “Stabbing of Fla. Muslim prompts call to reject Islamophobia”, CAIR press release, 6 February 2011

Post-9/11 hate crime study published

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In the weeks and months following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, hate crimes against Arab and Muslim-Americans spiked. However, hate crimes against other groups decreased during this time, says a newly published article authored by researchers at the University of South Florida and the State University of New York at Albany.

“Hate Crimes against Arabs and Muslims in Post-9/11 America,” appearing in the February issue of Social Problems, reveals that, concurrent to the dramatic rise in hate crimes against Arab and Muslim-Americans in the wake of 9/11, the incidence of hate crimes against blacks, whites, Asians, and Latinos fell.

The team of sociologists, led by USF Associate Professor James Cavendish and doctoral student Ilir Disha and associate professor Ryan King from SUNY-Albany conclude that “9/11 created a climate in which many Americans felt united against a ‘new enemy’ and in which acts of hatred against Arabs and Muslims became ‘normalized’ behaviors.”

USF.edu News, 1 February 2011

Posted in USA

Republican Party official refuses to quit racist group and resigns from GOP instead

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A former official who resigned from a Republican post in Arkansas said Thursday he’s not a racist and that he will not quit a group that bills itself as “pro-white.”

John Casteel, 71, who stepped down as Jackson County’s Republican chairman this week, said he has belonged to the Council of Conservative Citizens since its inception more than two decades ago. “To me, the council is more important,” Casteel said. “I’m not going to turn my back on an organization … just because some socialistic blogger says I’m a racist.”

The liberal-leaning blog Blue Arkansas noted Monday that Casteel’s e-mail address was listed as the contact for the council’s Arkansas chapter and also for the Jackson County GOP. The council took Casteel’s name off its website after The Associated Press contacted the group about the connection.

The Council of Conservative Citizens rose from the ashes of organizations that battled school integration in the 1950s and 1960s. State Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb called on Casteel to quit the council, saying its principles don’t align with the GOP’s. Casteel quit his GOP leadership post instead.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the former railroad man who later ventured into insurance said he sits on the Council of Conservative Citizens’ national board of directors.

“It’s the only organization in the United States that’s actually actively – internationally and in this country – trying to save this country from communism, socialism and the Islamic takeover of this world,” he said.

Associated Press, 3 February 2011

If you consult the Council of Conservative Citizens website you’ll see that its list of of links to “European allies” consists exclusively of far-right racist parties, headed by the BNP.

Campaign for more representative picture of Muslim-Americans in Hollywood films

Posted on by Bob Pitt

After years of watching Muslims portrayed as terrorists in mainstream TV and movies, an advocacy group hopes to change that image by grooming a crop of aspiring Muslim screenwriters who can bring their stories – and perspective – to Hollywood.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council is hosting a series of workshops taught by Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated veterans over the next month, an initiative that builds on the group’s outreach for a more representative picture of Muslim-Americans on the screen.

Associated Press, 2 February 2011

‘Yes to Fairer Votes’ campaigner sacked over anti-Islam tweet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A voting reform campaigner was sacked today after posting an “outrageous Islamophobic” joke on Twitter.

Ben Donnelly was dismissed from his volunteer post as a phone bank manager for the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign after his comments provoked a political storm.

The part-time music teacher could yet face disciplinary action from his employers at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich, who are looking into the matter.

The Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, which wants a switch from first-past-the-post to the alternative vote (AV), moved quickly to axe Mr Donnelly after details of his tweet were leaked to the Standard.

Posted yesterday afternoon, it read: “Says in the Holy Qu’ran Mohammad used to get his neighbours to vote by AV which of his 4 wives he’d shag each night.”

A Yes campaign spokesman said: “These comments were utterly disgraceful. Conduct like this will not be accepted by the campaign. We apologise for any offence taken and are as offended by these appalling comments as any other right-thinking person.”

Evening Standard, 2 February 2011

Posted in USA

Critics raise concerns about House hearings on Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A coalition of more than 50 Muslim, human rights, and faith organizations is urging House leaders to raise concerns about planned hearings this month on the “radicalization” of American Muslims.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, plans to focus his hearing on homegrown terrorism, including the Fort Hood shooting and attempted Times Square bombing, both plots hatched by American-born Muslims.

King has accused U.S. Muslim leaders of failing to cooperate with law enforcement officials and said that 80 percent of American mosques are run by extremists, a figure that Muslim leaders and scholars sharply dispute.

“Singling out a group of Americans for government scrutiny based on their faith is divisive and wrong,” the coalition wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The 51-member coalition includes Amnesty International USA, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and the Interfaith Alliance, as well as dozens of local and national Muslim groups.

“I don’t believe it warrants an answer,” King said of the letters. “I am too busy preparing for the hearings.”

A few members of Congress, including the House’s two Muslims and former Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have already denounced King’s plans.

Huffington Post, 1 February 2011

Are you eating food sacrificed to idols?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pastor Mark BiltzAnd you thought this was an hysterical overreaction to the prospect of eating meat from an animal that had received an Islamic blessing before it was slaughtered?

You should check out this report over at WorldNetDaily, which asks: “When you bite into a delicious pizza, succulent sandwich or luscious lamb chops, are you possibly eating food that has been sacrificed to idols?”

Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Washington, has alerted his congregation to the threat of “backdoor Shariah”. In a recent sermon that he posted online, Biltz explained that “Muslims can only eat food that is halal, that has been sacrificed to their idol, Allah … and with Allah’s name prayed over it. You could be eating beef, chicken, etc., offered up to Allah and not even know it…. It could be on your pizza without you knowing it, or at your favorite restaurant. People don’t realize they could be eating meat sacrificed to idols!”

Still, not to worry, it will all be sorted in a few years anyway, as Biltz has predicted the second coming of Christ for 2015.