Men abuse, scream at victim: “Donald Trump”.
AB Wire
An 18-year-old Muslim woman was attacked in a subway train in New York by three White men, who screamed “Donald Trump” at her and tried to rip her hijab off her head, all the while screaming obscenities and slurs at her, including telling her to get out of the country.
In another incident which smacked of a hate crime, a 20-year-old NYU student came across a message saying black people “must burn” using a hateful term, sources said, reported the New York Daily News.
As of Nov. 27, cops said there have been 34 reported incidents since Nov. 8, compared to 13 in the same period in 2015.
The young Muslim woman was standing on an uptown 6 platform at the 23rd St. and Park Ave. stop at about 10 p.m. Thursday when the trio of drunks allegedly started yelling at her. “Donald Trump! Donald Trump!” they screamed according to sources. They followed her as she then boarded a 6 train, the sources added.
On the train, they kept screaming Trump’s name at her, and then called her a “(expletive) terrorist.”
“Get the hell out of the country!” they allegedly yelled. “You don’t belong here!”
When she ignored them, they yanked off her purse, breaking the strap, and tried to take off her hijab, a head covering worn by Muslim women. She fled the train at Grand Central Terminal on E. 42nd St. and reported the terrifying incident to police. The men stayed on the train and got off at another station, sources said, reported the Daily News.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) on Friday condemned the alleged attack on the Muslim teenager on the train.
“American Muslims, and particularly men and women who wear religious attire, are being increasingly targeted by hate nationwide in the wake of the November 8 election,” said CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher, in a statement. “Our elected leaders and local law enforcement authorities must continue to take strong action to protect Muslims and other minority groups in a period of growing Islamophobia and political division.”
Nasher noted that CAIR-NY recently condemned an apparently bias-motivated attack on Muslim teenagers in Queens. She added that earlier this month, CAIR-NY called on New York City to take a leadership role in defending Muslim civil rights in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States.
CAIR’s national office has noted a spike in incidents targeting American Muslims and other minority groups since the November 8 presidential election. More than 100 anti-Muslim incidents have occurred across the country according to CAIR and almost 1000 incidents targeting different minority groups have been documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Washington-based Muslim civil rights organization recently said that newly-released FBI hate crime statistics showing a 67 percent jump in anti-Muslim incidents in 2015 should push the nation’s leaders to repudiate growing Islamophobia.