When Qandeel tried to stop him, Cunningham shot at Qandeel three times, although his gun did not discharge any bullets. Cunningham then started running away and Qandeel chased him. Cunningham shot at Qandeel again and this time a bullet did discharge, although it missed Qandeel. Cunningham was apprehended when he crashed his car trying to get away. Police later discovered that Cunningham planned to burn cars in the mosque driveway because of anger at the September 11 attacks. Federal authorities prosecuted Cunningham for attacking Qandeel and attempting to deface a house of worship. He pled guilty on May 9, 2002 and was scheduled to be sentenced on October 18, 2002. He faces a minimum of five years of incarceration.

120

Kulwinder Singh

On September 13, 2001, Raymond Isais Jr. allegedly assaulted Kulwinder Singh, a turbaned Sikh taxi worker, in SeaTac, Washington. After getting into the back seat of Singh's taxi. Isais told Singh, "You have no right to attack our country!" He then started choking Singh. After both men then got out of the taxi, Isais started punching Singh, pulled out tufts of his beard and knocked off his turban. Isais called Singh a terrorist during the assault. Local police were able to apprehend Isais Jr. the same day using a description provided by Singh. He was charged with a hate crime by local country prosecu

tors.

121

1.4 Lou Gelfand, "Readers say Sunday article spurred unfair attacks on local Somalis," Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), October 21. 2002.

Somalis. Muslims denounce paper's story." Star Tribime (Minneapolis, MN), October 16, 2001.

David Chanen, Bus stop assault is ruled homicide; Somali victim's family maintains it was hate crime." Star Tribrante (Minneapolis, MN), January 9, 2002

"FBI questions witness in alleged hate assault." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). November 16, 2001

"American Backlash. Terrorists Bring War Home in More Ways Than One," South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, p. 7, retrieved on August 28. 2002. from http://www.saalt org/biasreport.pdf. SAALT is a national South Asian advocacy organization

Number of Reported Incidents by Category," Council on American-Islamic Relations, retrieved on August 30, 200, from http://www.cair-nct.org/hunl/bycategory.htm.

Swaran Kaur Bhullar

On September 30, 2001, Swaran Kaur Bhullar, a Sikh woman, was attacked by two men who stabbed her in the head twice as her car was idling at a red light in San Diego. The men shouted at her, "This is what you get for what you've done to us!" and "I'm going to slash your throat," before attacking her. As another car approached the traffic light, the men sped off. Bhullar felt that she would have been killed by the men if the other car had not appeared. She was treated at a local hospital for

120 Human Rights Watch interview with Issa Qandeel, July 31, 2002.

12 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Kulwinder Singh. August 3, 2002.

On September 12, 2001, Faiza Ejaz, a Pakistani woman, was standing outside a mall in Huntington, New York waiting for her husband to pick her up from work. According to press reports, Adam Lang, a seventy-six-year-old man sitting in his car outside the mall, allegedly put his car in drive and started driving towards her. Ejaz was able to avoid the car by jumping out of the way and running into the mall. Lang then jumped out of his car and screamed that he was "doing this for my country" and was “going to kill her." Mall security agents seized Lang. Sergeant Robert Reecks, commander of the Suffolk County Bias Crimes Bureau, told reporters: "if she hadn't jumped out of the way, he would have run right over her.' Lang was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, which requires an enhanced penalty if the crime is biasmotivated.

Crystal Ali-Khan

123

On June 18, 2002, Crystal Ali Khan, a American Muslim woman who wears a hijab, was allegedly assaulted by a woman in a drug store near Houston, Texas. Before assaulting Khan, the woman told her that she had learned about "you people" over the last ten months and doesn't trust “a single damn one of you." Before Khan could get away from the woman, she slammed Khan to the floor and began pulling at her headscarf, which had the effect of choking her. Though Khan told the woman she could not breathe, she kept pulling at the headscarf. Khan then pulled off her headscarf, in violation of her religious obligations in a desperate effort to alleviate the choking. The woman then dragged Khan by her hair to the front of the store. When police arrived, the woman was holding Khan by her ponytail on the front sidewalk of the store. She told police that she was making a citizen's

122 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Swaran Kaur Bhullar, June 27, 2002.

123 Pat Burson, Terrorist Attacks; Driver Arrested in Hate Crime at Mall," Newsday, September 13. 2001.

A

Karnail Singh is a Sikh man who owns a motel in SeaTac, Washington. In mid-October, 2001, John Bethel, a local vagrant who sometimes came into Singh's motel for coffee and food, told Singh, "You better go back to your country. We're coming to kick your ass." few days later, on October 19, Bethel entered Singh's motel and shouted, "You still here? Go back to Allah!" before hitting Singh with a metal cane while he stood behind the counter in the motel lobby. Singh, who bled profusely from the blow, spent half a day in the hospital and required ten stitches on his head. Bethel was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon."

Satpreet Singh

125

On September 19, 2001, Satpreet Singh, a turbaned Sikh, was driving in the middle lane of a two lane highway in Frederick County, Maryland. A pickup truck pulled up close behind Singh and the driver started making profane gestures towards him. The pickup truck then moved alongside Singh's car on his left and the driver took out a rifle. Singh increased his speed to get away from the pickup truck. Seconds later he heard rifle shots. No bullets hit Singh or his car. The pickup truck then turned around and started traveling in the opposite direction. Singh filed a criminal complaint with the local police. At the time of this writing, local authorities have not been able to ascertain the identity of the person who shot at Singh."

124

126

Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Crystal Khan, August 21, 2002.

125 Human Rights Watch interview with Karnail Singh, August 2, 2002.

126 Human Rights Watch telephone Interview with Satpreet Singh, August 19. 2002. The Sikh Coalition, a Sikh civil rights organization formed in the wake of the September 11 backlash, received nineteen reports of turbaned Sikhs being harassed by other motorists while driving since September Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Prabhjot Singh, director, Sikh Coalition, August 16, 2002.

11.

Place of Worship Attacks

Mosques and places of worship perceived to be mosques appeared to be among the most likely places of September 11-related backlash violence. SAALT's survey of bias incidents reported in major news media found 104 bias incidents against places of worship reported during the first week after September 11.17 Of these 104 bias incidents, fifty-five were telephone threats, twenty-four involved harassment of mosque worshippers outside mosques, twenty-two involved property damage from vandalism, arson, or gun shots, and three were assaults on mosque worshipers.' Arab churches, Sikh gurdwaras (houses of worship), and Hindu temples were also objects of backlash violence. The number of worshippers at the attacked mosques decreased for weeks following the attacks, apparently because of fear of additional violence.

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128

Although September 11 backlash violence against individual Arabs and Muslims decreased markedly by November 2001, attacks continued against mosques or houses of worship perceived to be Arab or Muslim. On November 19, 2001, four teenagers burned down the Gobind Sadan, a multi-faith worship center Oswego, New York, because they believed the worshippers were supporters of Osama Bin Laden.' On March 25. 2002, a man who stated to police that he hated Muslims crashed his pickup truck into a mosque in Tallahassee, Florida thirty minutes after evening prayers." On June 11, 2002, in

131

139

South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow. “American Racklash: Terrorists Bring War Home in More Ways Than One," retrieved on August 26, 2002, from http://www.saalt.org/biasreport.pdf.

Ibid These statistics were compiled after analyzing reports listed in the "American Backlash" report.

Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Imam Ayaaz. Iman of Islamic Foundation of Irving, July 17, 2002: Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Dr. Magdy Adbelhady, member of United Muslim Masjid, July 18,2002.

Catie O'Toole, "2 in Temple Case Denied Shock Camp; Joshua Centrone, William Reeves Can't Get Out Early After Admitting Hate Crime," Post-Standard Syracuse, June 23, 2002.

131 "Florida Mosque Attack Result of Anti-Muslim Rhetono. Says CAIR," U.S. Newswire, March 26, 2002. Charles D. Franklin was indicted in federal court on April 17, 2002 for the alleged crime.

Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview

On September 12, 2001, over one hundred police officers were deployed to stop approximately three hundred protestors from marching on the mosque in Bridgeview, Illinois. The mosque is located in a neighborhood of mostly Arab and Muslim American families. Stopped two blocks from the mosque, the protestors then demonstrated for approximately three hours shouting anti-Arab and anti-Muslim insults such as "Arabs go home" and harassing passersby who looked Muslim or Arab. Similar protests, though smaller in size, were held over the next two days. Police from various jurisdictions cordoned off the area around the mosque, only allowing persons into the neighborhood who could prove they lived there. Many of the Muslim and

Arab families remained in their homes for the next few days because they feared hostility once outside the police cordon. Scores of police protected the mosque during Friday prayers on September 14, 2001.136

Islamic Center of Irving, Texas

On the night of September 12, 2001, someone fired at the Islamic Center of Irving, leaving thirteen to fourteen bullet holes in the building. The shots were fired after the evening prayer had ended and the building was empty. For the first two or three days after the attack, local police provided security for the mosque. Immediately after the attack, the imam reported a noticeable decline in prayer attendance. He estimated that daily prayer attendance dropped from 150 to thirty or forty persons. Friday prayers dropped from one thousand to five hundred persons. Mosque attendance normalized after a few weeks.

137

St. John's Assyrian American Church

On September 23, 2001, the St. John's Assyrian American Church was set on fire in Chicago, Illinois in the early morning, causing approximately $150,000 worth of damage. The fire was caused by someone who put a piece of paper through the church mail slot and then dropped a lit match onto it. Water from fire department fire extinguishers ruined holy pictures, carpeting, and floor tiles. According to the church's pastor, Reverend Charles Klutz, the person whom he believed set the fire had asked a local resident whether the church was a mosque. Reverend Klutz also stated that local police initially asked whether the church was a mosque when they first arrived at the church even though many crosses were located prominently on the church premises. Local police and federal authorities were investigating the cause of the fire at the time of this writing."

138

Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio

Sometime during the evening of December 29, 2001, vandals broke into the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio in Columbus, Ohio. The vandals broke a bathroom pipe and clogged the sink, forcing it to overflow for hours; tore frames encasing religious verses off a wall; destroyed a chandelier in the main prayer hall; flipped over the pulpit; cut the wires of highmounted speakers and amplifiers and threw them to the ground; tore posters off a mosque classroom wall; pulled down curtains and drapes; and tipped over bookcases and file cabinets in a classroom and threw approximately one hundred copies of the Quran onto the floor.15 Water from the stopped-up third-floor sink seeped into the second floor main prayer hall, causing plaster pieces from the main prayer hall ceiling to fall. A torn Quran and a smashed clock from the mosque were found in the mosque parking lot.

139

United Muslim Masjid

On November 16, 2001, during an evening Ramadan prayer service, rocks were thrown through two windows of the United Muslim Masjid in Waterbury, Connecticut. Approximately thirty-five to forty people were in the mosque at the time. Local police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Dr. Magdy Adbelhady, a member of the mosque, said that local police were responsive to mosque member concerns and seemed to be taking the matter seriously. He said that immediately after the attack on the mosque, mosque attendance had dropped but was now back to normal.'

139

141

Many Muslims consider it disrespectful to leave the Quran or any book of knowledge on the floor.

140

Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Siraj Haji, member of the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, July 19, 2002.

43 In particular, the arsons or attempted arsons against houses of worship generally thought to reflect September 11-related animus were against the Gobind Sadan. a multicultural interfaith center in Oswego. New York, St. John's Assyrian American Church in Chicago, Illinois; Guru Gobind Srigh Sikh Gurdwara in Bedford. Ohio, Idriss Mosque in Seattle Washington; Omar al-Farooq Mosque in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, and a Hindu temple in Matawan, New Jersey.

Convictions were obtained for the arson of the Gobind Salan in Oswego, New York, Cuny in a Hurry restaurant m Salt Lake City, Utah; and the attempted arson of the Idriss Mosque in Seattle, Washington. A charge of arson has been brought for the attempted arson of the Omar alFarooq mosque in Mountlake Terrace. Washington

Angie Welling and Anne Jacobs. "Feds hope hate-crime sentence is war.ng." Deseret News. January 8, 2002.

Fire at Pakistan Shop May Be Hate-Fueled Arson." Houston Chronicle, September 19, 2001.

VI. FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL HATE CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS BEFORE AND AFTER SEPTEMBER 11

Government efforts to protect people from biasmotivated violence varied from state to state and city to city in the United States. Our research found different practices with regard to critical anti-bias crime measures such as hate crime investigation protocols, prosecution, bias crime tracking, and community outreach. The most successful efforts to combat backlash violenceas in Dearborn, Michigan, where only two violent September 11-related assaults occurred in a city with thirty thousand Arab-Americanscorrelated with prior recognition that backlash attacks against Arabs, Muslims. Sikhs, and South Asians are a recurring problem; a high degree of affected community access and input into law enforcement planning and decisionmaking, and combined efforts by local, county, state and federal authorities.