The New York Police Department says hate crimes targeting the city’s minority groups have more than doubled from this time last year, according to the New York Times.
“Hate crimes in New York City have risen in the weeks since Donald J. Trump won the presidential election, a noticeable spike that encompasses ethnic minorities, Jews, whites and people for their sexual orientation. In New York City, 43 episodes have been deemed possible hate crimes by the Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force since Election Day.”
Since last Thursday, three Muslim-American women in New York City have been physically and verbally attacked by men shouting anti-Muslim slurs. In at least one instance, Donald Trump’s name was directly invoked by the attackers.
On Thursday, a US-born college student was attacked by three men who shouted “Trump! Trump!”, shouted “You f–king terrorist! Get out of this country — you don’t belong here!”, and attempted to rip off her hijab. When the student tried to change train cars to escape her attackers, they followed her. She later said no one passengers came to her defense.
On Saturday, an off-duty police officer — once hailed as a hero by Mayor Bill de Blasio for saving the lives of an elderly woman and baby — was attacked by a man screaming, “ISIS [expletive], I will cut your throat, go back to your country.” The attacker also harassed the officer’s 16-year-old son.
And on Monday, a city transit worker was pushed down the stairs of Grand Central Terminal by a man who screamed “Go back home!” and yelled, “You’re a terrorist and you shouldn’t be working for the city!” Like the two other victims, she was wearing a hijab at the time.
From CBS News:
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he has asked the MTA, State Police and Division of Human Rights to work with the NYPD to investigate Monday’s incident and other recent hate crimes in the transit system. On Saturday, swastikas were found scrawled inside a train. Last week, KKK fliers and business cards were distributed at two Long Island Rail Road stations, Cuomo’s office said.
Added Police Commissioner James O’Neill during the press conference this week: “If anybody’s thinking in New York City about engaging in this type of behavior, just rest assured that you will be identified, you will be arrested, you will be charged accordingly.”
State and local leaders — including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, de Blasio, and the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — have condemned the hate acts, and called on Trump, who bears an added moral responsibility as President-elect of the nation, to forcefully denounce the hatred his campaign has inspired:
The governor condemned the episodes. “This is the great State of New York — we welcome people of all cultures, customs and creeds with open arms,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement. “We do not allow intolerance or fear to divide us because we know diversity is our strength and we are at our best when we stand united.”
Afaf Nasher, the executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, linked the surge in reported hate crimes directly to the president-elect.
“Mr. Trump’s rhetoric normalized hate, racism and xenophobia,” Ms. Nasher said in an email. “These attacks are the unavoidable byproduct.” She called upon Mr. Trump to denounce the acts of violence against Muslim women.
At a news conference in Lower Manhattan on Monday, the police officer, Aml Elsokary, sat beside Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, as he decried what had happened to her and her son. “This is Officer Elsokary’s country. She is an American. She is a New Yorker. She’s already at home,” he said. “We cannot allow this kind of hatred and bias to spread.”
“I became a police officer to show the positive side of a New Yorker, a Muslim woman that can do this job, that is nonbiased,” Officer Elsokary said at the news conference on Monday. “I help everybody, no matter what’s your religion, what’s your faith, what you do in New York. I’m born and raised here and I’m here to protect you all.”
