(Chicago) Woman accused of hate crime against Muslim

[sabra]

Source: Chicago Trib

A woman who allegedly yanked the headscarf of a Muslim woman in a Tinley Park supermarket two days after the Fort Hood shootings has been charged with a hate crime.

Bank teller Valerie Kenney, 54, of the 16500 block of Evergreen Ave., is accused of confronting Amal Abusumayah while she shopped at the Jewel supermarket at Harlem Avenue and 171st Street on Nov. 7, Tinley Park police say.

Abusumayah alleged last week that Kenney made a reference to the Fort Hood shootings while passing her in an aisle of the supermarket.

Minutes later, Abusumayah alleges, Kenney approached her from behind near the cash register and pulled on her headscarf.

Police arrested Kenney minutes later in the store's parking lot.

Read more: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/11/woman-accused-of-hate-crime-against-muslim.html

[virgogal]

1. Any witnesses I wonder?

[timeforpeace]

4. In these situations it's the seriousness of the accusation, not the facts, that is important.

[Flaneur]

5. That's just silly. The facts matter, and it will be sorted out in court.

[sudopod]

14. Y hallo thar Mr. Limbaugh

It isn't smart to quote yourself here. It might blow your cover. *wink wink nudge nudge*

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

18. Boy, you're not even pretending that much anymore. nt

[virgogal]

25. The facts aren't important?

[Ikonoklast]

34. Guess you've never been in court.

Make stuff up, and see how far you get with the judge.

[polly7]

2. Ugh ............ she looks like she's full of hate.

Lucky the woman didn't turn around and smoke her one or two or three.
:spank:

[tularetom]

3. You got that right - if I woke up and saw that lying next to me

I'd go right out and shoot myself.

[WriteDown]

10. Glad we can tell by appearance now. That should come in handy. nt

[polly7]

23. Well ............. true, just speculation really, based upon her actions

combined with that mean look on her face. But I just looked again ...... she still looks full of hate.

[EnlightenedOne]

6. Good.

She does look full of hate.

[uppityperson]

16. For being "enlightened", that is quite a statement

Judging a person based on 1 photo.

[edwardian]

17. Enlightenment doesn't

blind you to others faults or actions. To say someone looks full of hate is not a judgment of the person, but of the appearance the person is wearing. When i wear a baseball cap, all my friends say I look goofy. I only LOOK goofy, I am not actually goofy...until I do my Jerry Lewis impression, then I become goofy. Have a nice day being uppity.

[uppityperson]

21. Yup, prejudging is enlightened. have a nice day being enlightened.

[EnlightenedOne]

28. Not a judgment

just my opinion - look at the photo - she "looks" full of hate to me and her action was certainly "hateful", thus the "hate crime" charge. By their deeds shall ye know them.

FYI - Even enlightened people can still have an opinion.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. It never changes when we teach hate. Just who we're to hate.

[kestrel91316]

8. Wingnut bible beater would be my guess.

[Mari333]

9. a little jail time might cool her off.

looks like thats where she is headed..and a huge fine.

[WriteDown]

11. So she pulled ON her headscarf, not OFF mind you....

and we need the FBI to investigate. Sheesh.

[madmom]

12. Wondered what these people would do if...

someone pulled a Yarmulke off of a Jewish man or the head covering off a nun? How about the Amish? Would it be alright if an atheist came and pulled off one of these head covering? or any one not of their faith?

[WriteDown]

13. Or someone's yankees cap...

close to a religion. :).

[madmom]

15. LOL, yep you are right. Never thought of that one.

[Ter]

55. Hmm, if someone yanked my Yankee cap off and threw it in the garbage,

Then cursed at me for being a "filthy Yankee fan", and then said "Red Sox Rule!", why wouldn't that be a hate crime?

[DBoon]

19. the nuns I knew would have belted that person

don't mess with nuns.

Ever.

[edwardian]

20. Technically, touching another person

is battery. The scarf tug is a violation of the freedom of religion, a right to be left alone to believe what one does or not about the nature of reality. Any action directed toward the persons yarmulke, hijab, burka, beard, hat, turban, crucifix, rosary, spaghetti string, etc. would violate that persons rights. Simple, unless one feels entitled...

[izzybeans]

22. Which people?

The strawmen?

[madmom]

24. Any people who feel they have a right to dictate religion and/or head gear to others.

[AlbertCat]

38. How about an atheist being harassed for wearing a Darwin T-shirt?

And now you know why I don't wear mine...as much.


I wonder if the inter-faith altercations would be more violent than the atheist/believer altercation....hmmmmm?

[Scurrilous]

61. This is what happens:

Yarmulke-theft teen charged (March 26th 2008)

"A Queens teen was arraigned Tuesday on grand larceny as a hate crime, petty larceny and other charges for allegedly stealing an assistant rabbi's yarmulke."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/03/26/2008-03-26_yarmulketheft_teen_charged.html


Scarf, yarmulke, nuns habit, whatever, you don't mess with it.

[mamaleah]

62. If someone yanked a cross off a Christian, some would have appreciation threads.

Yes, a good amount of DUers would be outraged, but they would be drowned out.

[Snarkoleptic]

26. Help me spar with the unwashed masses on the Chicago SunTimes comment page...here

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1890813,kenney-tinley-park-hate-crime-111809.article?plckCurrentPage=1&sid=sitelife.suntimes.com

[JonQ]

27. That's just her culture

I don't think we should judge this woman. She doesn't care for muslims beacuse that's her culture which is no better or worse than any other. And I think now is as good a time as any for muslims to ask themselves, "why do they hate us"?

[superduperfarleft]

31. Or maybe it's time for americans to ask themselves that question

instead of just cowering in fear of teh moozlems, or feigning shock when something gets blown up.

[katkat]

42. JonQ

Are you for real? How about we Democrats ask ourselves why the wingnuts hate us?

[JonQ]

43. Just trying something

Seeing how moral relativism works when it's used to defend our nuts harrassing others. Not so well apparently.

Refer to this thread to see what I was talking about: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4151159&mesg_id=4151159

[imdjh]

29. 3 years and $25000 for pulling on a headscarf? What the hell law are they twisting?

[a la izquierda]

30. You know, this might sound weird...

but one of these days, I wish someone would do this in my presence (or my husband's-and it very well could. We live in Oklahoma). That person would get the verbal evisceration of a lifetime, complete with the accent and colorful vocabulary of someone from NJ(which always makes the Okies cock their heads).

What in the fuck gives someone the right to touch anyone, even if it was only her headscarf?

[superduperfarleft]

32. I'd like to know specifically what crime she's being charged with

other than the obvious one (battery). "Charged with a hate crime" is incredibly vague, and sounds to me like nothing more than a dogwhistle to the usual looney RW crowd that populates the comments page of every newspapers' website.

[EnlightenedOne]

35. She accousted the woman

obviously because of her brand of faith. That's what makes it a hate crime.

[superduperfarleft]

39. Is that what the court is actually charging her with?

For instance, when someone steals a car, the charges filed aren't "HE DONE STOLE MAH CAR," the person is charged with grand theft auto.

I'm not doubting the veracity of the charge, I'm doubting the dumbed-down account of it that this newspaper article provided.

[EnlightenedOne]

44. The article only states she is being charged with

a Class 4 felony (doesn't get specific) - but pretty much anytime a person puts a hand on another person in an unwelcomed and attacking manner, charges can be filed.

[superduperfarleft]

46. Yes, I know. She's being charged with battery. I understand that.

I'm curious as to what name of the additional charge is that the paper is calling "a hate crime law."

[EnlightenedOne]

54. I don't know if this will help, its all I got

Hate crime laws in the United States protect against hate crimes (also known as bias crimes) motivated by enmity or animus against a protected class. Although state laws vary, current statutes permit federal prosecution of hate crimes committed on the basis of a person's protected characteristics of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.

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[marshall]

36. I remember four of our Muslim students laughing and joking on 9/11

The campus was in a tizzy all morning, and after the buildings fell an impromptu meeting was held at the flagpole. At the time we had dozens of young men from Muslim countries in our graduate programs, and we had a thriving Mosque in town (they have since disappeared to be replaced by a significant Chinese and Indian population). These four men were making fun of the emotional turmoil that was going on, and one of my colleagues turned on them and uncharacteristcally chewed them out and told them to be quiet.

[superduperfarleft]

40. What does that have to do with this story?

Not that I think you're just full of shit or anything...

[marshall]

50. This woman claims the lady in the head scarf said something about Fort Hood

Whether it's true or not remains to be decided. But both seem to be instances of someone looking on from the outside and making a comment that was deemed offensive by someone on the inside.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

51. No, you have it backwards.

The Muslim lady said the attacker said something about Fort Hood. Look at the article again.

[marshall]

57. Oh, thanks. I did misread the article

I don't know what connection this woman had with the military (if any) but she was unprovoked and should have just continued shopping.

This isn't France--women can wear head scarves if they want.

[katkat]

45. marshall

How many deaths of Iraqi civilians has the US been responsible for, about one million by now, isn't it? If I were an Iraqi and I saw a few thousand of my murdering sanctimonious enemies get wiped out I'd probably not laugh, but I'd say serves them right, good riddance, and finally sauce for the gander.

[EnlightenedOne]

52. There were Israli's caught on film laughing also

but you don't condemn the whole population for the acts of a few - otherwise - we white people would be in some deep shit.

[Sezu]

37. So THIS is the vile blowback from the

Fort Hood incident. OH, the HUMANITY!!!!

lol

[ShortnFiery]

47. Don't kid yourself, it's only beginning. It's going to get ugly.

Think Germany in the 1930s. :(

[MellowDem]

58. Yeah...

Because it got so ugly after 9/11 :eyes:

The worst discrimination to happen to Muslims would have (and did) come after 9/11. And not to make light of it, but the discrimination they faced was nothing like 1930s Germany. Actually, I was surprised how well America handled that time, I was expecting much worse. And the amount of coverage Islam has received since then has informed more Americans about the religion and has made it less likely they will act out of fear in retaliation.

Of course, you'll still have idiots like this, but she is being punished accordingly.

[JonQ]

59. If that was going to happen

I believe 9/11 would have been the thing to set it off, not fort hood. Tragic as it may be a dozen lives lost do not compare to thousands.

[superconnected]

41. Unrec'd. What a dumb story.

"If convicted of the class 4 felony, she could be jailed for up to three years and fined as much as $25,000."

Okay, she mentioned the fort hood shooting as she passed the woman in the supermarket, then later tugged on her head scarf in the parking lot.

Sorry, I don't get this as a possibly 3 year jail stint.

Sure she's out of order and should be in court for harassment but this isn't even close to the cop zapping a 10 year old with a taser.

[EndersDame]

48. She is spreading fear to the rest of the muslim community of the area

and fanning flames of hatred

[superconnected]

49. I agree she's wrong but not 3 years in prison wrong - yet.

I think hitting her with a harassment suit is enough for this one.

[EnlightenedOne]

53. Says "could be"

but she won't get anywhere near this - hopefully, though, the penalty will be strong enough to perhaps deter others from acting out.

[noiretextatique]

56. she probably won't get the max

and I WISH some asshole would tug on me. it would have been a different outcome. bullies know who to mess with.

[Scurrilous]

60. K & R

"He (Police Chief Michael O'Connell) said hate crimes such as the one Kenney is charged with "attack the dignity of people because of their religious beliefs, race or sexual orientation, and we don't tolerate that here."

Kudos to Police Chief O'Connell.:thumbsup:

Unlike some respondents on this thread, he knows that what happened to Ms. Abusumayah is not a trivial thing to be lightly dismissed or joked about.