Anti-Muslim Rage in U.S. Hurts Others Too
Mon July 21, 2003 08:06 AM ET
By Greg Frost

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3124846

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (Reuters) - "Go back to Iraq!" the
young men shouted as they beat and kicked the pizza
delivery man in the face, breaking his jaw in three
places.

They bound his thin body with rope, stuffed a sock in
his mouth to muffle his screams for help and used the
back of his neck as an ashtray. They stuffed him into
the trunk of a car, where he managed to set himself
free -- only to be stabbed.

But the victim of this Massachusetts attack was
neither a Muslim nor an Iraqi but a Hindu from the
central Indian city of Indore. He tried to make this
clear to his assailants but his entreaties fell on
ignorant ears.

Weeks after the attack left him with a pierced lung
and liver and sipping his meals through a straw,
24-year-old Saurabh Bhalerao showed little emotion as
he recounted the grisly details of what he called "an
isolated incident."

But the attack may be part of a wider trend. A new
report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations
revealed hostility, discrimination and violence have
risen in America against Muslims and people simply
presumed to be Muslims.

"They didn't even know the difference between India
and Iraq," Bhalerao told Reuters in an interview, his
jaw wired shut.

"I COULD SEE THE HATE"

Bhalerao took a job in June at a pizzeria to support
his studies at the University of Massachusetts at
Dartmouth. On his second day on the job, he was
ambushed delivering a $10 pizza to a home in New
Bedford, Massachusetts.

"I told them to take my money," he recalled. "One of
them may have noticed my accent because they
immediately started beating me harder. They kept on
screaming: 'Go Back to Iraq!"'

When the beating intensified, Bhalerao began to wonder
if he would make it through alive.

"They had probably planned to rob me at first. But the
way they started treating me because they thought I
was from the Middle East -- I could see the hate in
their behavior," the graduate student said.

Police believe the attack began as a robbery but
escalated into something more brutal. Hate crime
charges have been filed against four men, along with
charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery and
other crimes.

Bhalerao said the attack has not changed his feelings
about the United States, although he is concerned by
what he sees as a wave of ignorance in America about
the rest of the world.

The attack against Bhalerao marked the second time in
seven months that non-Muslim Indians have been victims
of anti-Muslim hate crimes in Massachusetts alone.

Similar attacks or acts of discrimination have hit
Indians elsewhere in the country. In May, a Sikh in
Arizona was shot twice by assailants who reportedly
yelled "Go back to where you belong." Last year in New
York, three young men warned another Sikh "not to bomb
another building."

The incidents have the Indian-American community
worried.

"A segment of our community is at high risk," said
Ravi Sakhuja, a leader of an Indian-American political
group in New England. "Some people are looking at all
of us and saying 'Oh, they're all Muslims."'

DANGEROUS TIMES

Mohamed Nimer, director of research at the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said ignorance is
"rampant" in America and is among the reasons for a 15
percent increase in anti-Muslim violence,
discrimination and harassment in 2002.

In a report issued this month, Nimer said anger about
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and "discriminatory"
government policies like the USA Patriot Act have
combined to make America a risky place for Muslims and
those perceived to be Muslim.

"It's more dangerous than ever," said Nimer, noting
that anti-Muslim violence has hit Sikhs, Hindus, and
even non-Muslim Hispanics. "It doesn't matter if
you're Muslim or not."

Stoking the flames of hate, he says, is anti-Islamic
rhetoric from Christian preachers like Jerry Falwell,
Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham, son of the Rev.
Billy Graham.

Falwell prompted deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes in India
last year when he called the prophet Mohammed a
"terrorist" and Robertson made headlines in December
when he called Muslims "worse than Nazis."

Graham, who gave the sermon at President Bush's 2001
inauguration, angered Muslims after the Sept. 11
attacks when he called Islam a "very evil and wicked
religion."

"When you have leaders who talk this way ... it's no
wonder you get some people who are willing to go and
attack," Nimer said. "Some people really believe the
Islamic mosque next door is the place where bombing
attacks are being hatched and they say: 'Let's get
them before they get us."'

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