Ann Arbor — A 21-year-old Muslim woman said she was the victim of a hate crime as she drove along State Street on Sunday morning. The woman, who wears a head scarf, or hijab, told Ann Arbor police she was in her car at the intersection of State Street and Eisenhower Parkway when a driver in a black Dodge Ram truck behind her started honking and later pulled up beside her, where he hurled insults.
“I laughed about it, honestly, because it happens so much wearing a scarf that it didn’t bug me,” said Aisha. The Detroit News is not using her last name because of her fears of retaliation. The comments, she said, included “You don’t belong here,” “You are a terrorist” and “Your people need to be killed.”
Aisha said she dialed 911 on her cellphone and when she looked back, saw that the driver was pointing a handgun at her.
The woman, a nursing student, also reported the incident to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which asked the FBI to investigate.
“No people in America, be they Christian or a part of a religious minority, should be subjected to such threats because of their religion or faith,” said Dawud Walid, executive director for CAIR Michigan. “For any individual to be taunted because of their religion and have a firearm pointed at them is a hate crime in our mind. This is an individual who’s a threat not just to Muslims, but to society at large, and they need to be apprehended.”
See also WXYZ, 7 August 2011
And “CAIR-MI asks FBI to probe threat against Muslim driver”, CAIR press release, 7 August 2011