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Ilhan Omar’s Hate Crime
The pattern is near-identical: a Muslim woman who has very publicly made defeating Islamophobia part of her political work suffers a hate crime after Trump’s election.
She reports the crime only through the media, who sends what she says viral without asking any critical questions, despite some issues that might be worth questioning. The story is added to the tally of such crimes, as another example of what people want to believe.
At issue? If a hate crime is real, it must be prosecuted publicly and aggressively. We live in a vulnerable, volatile time. Anyone who would commit a hate crime needs, within the law, to be made an example of, lest the next one be the spark that starts a larger fire. At the same time, if a hate crime did not occur, that too must be prosecuted fully. Every false or exaggerated report adds to the arsenal of false reports that negate real reports.
Ilhan Omar
Minnesota State Representative-elect Ilhan Omar in January will become the country’s first Somali-American state legislator. She was in Washington DC, including a visit to the White House, last week for a conference. In a post on Facebook and Twitter, Omar claimed she and her sister were victims of a hate crime by a D.C. cabdriver who picked the two women up as they exited the White House. The driver called her ISIS and threatened to remove her hijab.
No Police Report
In her Facebook posting immediately after the alleged incident, Omar stated she would only file a report with the police after she returned to Minnesota, citing concerns for her safety because the driver knew the location of her hotel.
Omar did not suffer any further harassment, and had no further contact with the driver. The story went viral.
Once back in Minnesota, Omar stated she changed her mind and would not file a police report. Instead, saying she “believes criminalizing hate is not a solution and will only strengthen individual malice,” Omar instead only reported the incident in an unspecified format with DC’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles and the DC Office of Human Rights.
The former has the power to suspend a driver after a hearing. It is unclear what enforcement powers the Human Rights office has. Under the heading of “Reporting Taxicab and Vehicle-For-Hire Discrimination,” the Office focuses on denials of service, if, for example, a taxi refuses to pick up a passenger who is handicapped. Omar’s situation does not seem to be addressed.
Questions
— Omar did not address the fact that by posting the incident to Facebook, as well as doing interviews with The Rachel Maddow Show and others, she more than alerted the driver. If he wanted revenge or to attack her, there it was.
— She also did not address that by choosing not to report the act immediately to the police, the driver would be free to continue to harass other Muslim women. In fact, since there was no arrest, he is driving around DC right now. Perhaps he even seeks out Muslim women passengers as targets? Omar seems to have a responsibility here to other women and the public she is ignoring.
— Omar has not provided information about the cab she took, nor a fuller description of the driver who in her statement she described only as an “African immigrant.” Since she was picked up outside the White House, a fully surveilled area, it seems likely Omar’s cab and driver would be relatively easy to identify. Unless the driver told her “I am an immigrant,” it is unclear how Omar would know he was not born in the United States.
— Omar has not explained how the driver might have been able to remove her headcovering given the plexiglass barrier in DC cabs.
BONUS: Omar is in the midst of a swirl of accusations related to marriage fraud she may have committed for immigration purposes. See here and here.
BONUS: Here’s an example of a newspaper who actually pulled a story after realizing it could not verify what happened. But oh, the story was about a guy playing Santa Claus at a sick kid’s bedside, not an alleged hate crime…
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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chuck said...
1Are there no camera’s to view those people and vehicles around the white House? Could the driver be Russian?
12/15/16 8:41 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
2Peter,
You left somethings out.
Her witness?
Calling the employer?
How about massively complicating the investigation by not going to the DC police force directly?
And… If memory is correct…. She stated she was afraid of further incidents….. As the driver knew where her hotel was.
Ummmm… DC response times are at 20 seconds or less. And hotels there don’t just let anyone up to rooms with out verification.
She’s offended enough to grap headlines…. But not to call cops????
And…. She’s offended enough to grab headlines…. But not tell the most heavily funded law enforcement agencies in the world?… Or the history of the world?
The national parks police… The SS….. As well as the DC police.
What a wonderful, effective, efficient representative Minn has picked.
M
12/15/16 8:48 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
3Hey Peter, !!!!!!!!
Here you go…. The world now has it published.
Any bets on the apologies you don’t see?????
Btw….. The article says she admits to Drinking…..
Hmmmmmm…. Thought that was against the rules.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38328242
M
12/15/16 9:34 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4You mean Santa Claus isn’t real?
12/15/16 9:56 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
5So a rude taxi driver insults a person and THAT is a hate crime? Most young black men can’t get a taxi after dark in DC. THAT is a real hate crime.
12/15/16 10:21 AM | Comment Link
chuck said...
6“Love is not having to say your sorry” (Just in case PVB doesn’t hear from people)! TY PVB.
12/15/16 12:09 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
7Ummmm… Chuck…..
I don’t think that rule applies here…..
It’s more of a lesson about ‘don’t forget how fast they turn on you ‘.
M
12/15/16 12:59 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
8Back the bus up !
12/15/16 1:16 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
9peas on earth …
12/15/16 1:21 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
10What can be done before the Donald swears in by the powers that be? Have a nice day. Is it Tuesday?!!!
12/15/16 2:54 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
11Killery 20/whatever. So glad Pelosi and Shi*umer, will lead! Biden 2090
12/15/16 3:08 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
12The Russians made Donna Brazille give the questions to Hillary! Can’t wait to hear that !
12/15/16 3:09 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
13Chuck- Donna Brazille was a double agent for the Democrats and discreetly went over to the Russians way before the primaries. She had a wide on for some Moscow butch dike and couldn’t help herself. Blame it on the internet where one can hook up with like minded people.
12/15/16 3:17 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
14Excuse me Dyke not dike. Same thing- except that one puts one’s finger into a dyke so it can burst-not prevent a breech of fluids. PVB. Will you actually allow such a horrid sexist comment?
12/15/16 3:20 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
15Half a Peace Sign?!!! Have a nice day!
12/15/16 3:23 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
16Jesus- I’ll get this right eventually. Breach not breech. It was designed for a chuckle. Aren’t all of us in the breech of this insane times?
12/15/16 3:26 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
17Dylan Roof. If the fellow had been born in Somali he would have become a suicide bomber for his tribal affiliation. We need to completely reset evolution. Is that going to happen? I’d like to think so but that scenario is very unlikely. Sunni Shia? Democrat Republican? Same tragic thing.
12/15/16 3:54 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
18Donald Trump hate crime: Johnny Yosemite Sam Bombs Away Bolton
12/15/16 4:17 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
19Peter,
You got me curious…. So…… Here you go…..
All sorts of interesting questions about the new representative.
http://www.fox9.com/news/politics/191617665-story
M
12/15/16 4:57 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
20PS.
Pitchfork,
Can’t wait to see what you have to say about the nice lady.
M
12/15/16 4:58 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
21Peter,
Ummmmm….. If you dig into her history….. You just might make it to the coveted black list……or… At the very least…..a letter from her Atty accusing you of racism…
She has this crap down to a science.
Fyi…..
http://www.city-journal.org/html/curious-case-ilhan-omar-14724.html
M
12/15/16 5:07 PM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
22Very interesting. It’s racism all the way down…
12/16/16 8:27 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
23Big news outnow about how Facebook developing a way to filter out fake news. So if Facebook were around in 2002 could it have outed Curveball with his, “Iraq has mobile bio warfare labs”
The phaque news the White House puts out today (4.2% unemployment) isn’t questioned.
12/15/16 6:02 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
24Mitch said…
PS.
Pitchfork,
“Can’t wait to see what you have to say about the nice lady.”
Nice lady. right.
Mitch..right now.. I don’t give a flying fuck about nice ladys, Russian email hacks, Trumps eventual failure to produce his “Make America Great Again”, or any other manifestation of the human race’s absurd .01% GOVERNANCE of this planet. They are a mockery of everything, every religion claims to hold as the stalwart meaning of human existence. I spit in all their faces and hereby claim my OWN cognizance of every power on planet earth as a FRAUD on our specie. THE POWERS THAT BE ON THIS PLANE, FAIL EVERY SINGLE CONDITION THAT THE HUMAN CONDITION FACES BY VIRTUE OF SELF IMPORTANCE AND COMFORT OF THOSE .001% WHO CONTROL IT., THEY WOULD BET THE VERY EXISTENCE OF THE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN RACE IF THEIR OWN EXISTENCE AND POWER PREVAILS. EVEN IF IT MEANT TOTAL STARVATION OF THE REST OF THE PLANET. YOU KNOW IT. I KNOW IT AND THEY KNOW IT.
HENCE..Allepo. Shame on the human race, for not rising up and butchering these sub human maggots in TOTAL till the rest of the planets tyrants surrender in total recognition they WILL FUCKING DIE.
Meanwhile…
“We need to completely reset evolution. Is that going to happen? I’d like to think so but that scenario is very unlikely. Sunni Shia? Democrat Republican? Same tragic thing.”
There will come a day when you have a choice. Pick up a weapon and kill those who will kill you and your progeny… or not. PERIOD.
12/15/16 7:18 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
25ya know.. at one time, the allied worlds powers came together, to defeat a collective tyranny that threatened the very existence of human diversity. I sense the very same thing in America today. Shame on America, as the GOP/Trump movement mocks the very foundations on which America was born, while claiming to reclaim the swamp of favoritism to the 1% actually fills the swamp with Wallstreet alligators. So be it. Piketty warned them. They didn’t listen. In fact, Trump raised his gilded middle finger. So be it. So shall he eventually be hung from a lamp post upside down.. just like Bennito Mussolini.
12/15/16 8:04 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
26Pitch, Trump will be exposed for his corrupt business practices and will be the first presidense ever to flee the country (Nixon and some other crooks should have). Putin will waiting with open arms.
12/15/16 8:39 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
27https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/john-podesta-something-is-deeply-broken-at-the-fbi/2016/12/15/51668ab4-c303-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_story.html?utm_term=.94667f2d4532
Really? Nawww.. I mean J. Edgars ghost is probably rolling in his grave.
12/15/16 8:43 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
28Pitch- I’m sure you noticed that all the talking heads on all the news channels were Hillary supporters. They have been discredited for taking his coronation for granted and are now looking for a scapegoat. Enter Putin! Axelrod, Podesta and hundreds thought they were assured another decade sucking at the tit of the Democratic party. Now they are panicked and pointing fingers at Russia. Pathetic? Sadly yes.
12/15/16 10:13 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
29Pitchfork,
You ok? Your a bit…. Upset??
Questions…
1. Have you seen this?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/16/crazytown-how-even-some-pundits-want-trump-electors-to-go-rogue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29
Second question….
Who are you quoting with the “reset evolution” ???
M
12/16/16 5:33 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
30Hey Peter,
Remember when I was asking about an article for mass hysteria?????
OMG!!!!
http://topstories.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17224&content=118549543&pageNum=-1
M
12/16/16 5:50 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
31Pitchfork,
I don’t think you have to worry about trump making the world glow….
These Dumbasses are going to do it long before then.
http://foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=22995&external=3843123.proteus.fma#quickPage_html_page_22995_content_118549893_pageNum_1
M
12/16/16 7:16 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
32If we are so offended by hate crimes, let US go after the haters who attacked Iraq and now threaten violence against Iran. Trump should demand the names of the CIA officers who lied about Iraqi WMDs, and get rid of them to send a strong message that hate crimes will not be tolerated. Johnny Bombs Away Bolton should be on the list too.
12/16/16 7:22 AM | Comment Link
“Every false or exaggerated report adds to the arsenal of false rep… | Dr. Roy Schestowitz (罗伊) said...
33[…] "Every false or exaggerated report adds to the arsenal of false reports that negate real reports." https://wemeantwell.com/blog/2016/12/15/ilhan-omars-hate-crime/ […]
12/17/16 12:26 PM | Comment Link