Cypress Masjid Hate Crime

If you have not heard the news already about two weeks ago the Cypress Masjid in Southern California was vandalized with graffiti that is now being investigated as a hate crime by Cypress Police Department and federal authorities.

The early morning (before 5AM) attack came at the heals of the much applauded speech by President Obama in Cairo. Shura Council of Southern California took a community poll which pretty much 40% of those polled labeled it as "good rhetoric".

There are quite possibly many significant "firsts" that can be drawn out of this speech. Verbage talks about Galloway speaking at a private fundraiser for VivaPalestinia outlining how President Obama was first President to speak of "occupation" whereas both Clinton and Carter did so after they were out of office, you can read here. Dr. Qazi at Muslamics discusses how Obama acknowledged America's own significant and historical American Muslim community among other things, read here. Then you can read my skepticism of the pre-speech being given.

Whether or not the incident was connected to the speech, thats not fully established, only speculation. What was most interesting opinion on this incident was connecting it to the FBI informant case by Nick Schou at the OC Weekly:

While both the Register story and the CAIR press release pointed out that the incident took place on the same day as Obama's speech in Cairo, the Weekly gets the honor of being the first to speculate about whether the hate crime might have anything to do with convicted con artist and self-declared FBI informant Craig Monteilh publicly claiming to have stymied terrorist plots at OC mosques.

To read some coverage on the incident: OC Register, LA Times, AP, CBS2 & KCAL9



If anything this incident coupled with the shooting by a neo-nazi at the Holocuast Memorial Museum in Washington DC, followed by the beating of a Muslim teen in New York, which is being investigated with the potential of a "hate bias" (from what I remember) underscores the need for hate crime legislation, prevention and more importantly reporting.

These incidents also underscore the unfortunate trend, DHS put out a report on Right Wing extremism- which includes the shooting of that abortion doctor in the mid-west inside a Church (of all places, is not a Church sacred?)- that currently the threat to security is of "extremisim"- extremism does not have a ethnicity (brown/black violence in Los Angeles), nationality (white American kids beating up- to death- Mexican undocumented immigrant), religion, or gender.

The politicization and further polarization of American society, this concept of "us vs. them", "white and black", "evil and righteous", "good and bad" is only racthed up with a Democratic president, loss of power by the Republicans, crippling of the Evangelical voting base along with very decisive social and political debates. All the while talk show hosts continue to spew their hate on the airwaves that facilitates peoples fears, anxiety, paranoia into unthinkable action that is utterly un-American.

All faiths need to remember to protect their congregations, examine their security measures, contact you local law enforcement agencies to discuss plans in an event of some sort of hate crime- or any crime- occuring the place of worship. Create a plan, create a clear understanding of leadership. Feel free to use the CAIR guide on this.