“Iraqi woman dies after San Diego attack“
An Iraqi woman who was found severely beaten at her San Diego home next to a note saying “go back to your country” has died.
Shaima Alawadi, 32, a mother of five, was found unconscious by her 17-year-old daughter on Wednesday, police said.
The daughter, Fatima al-Himidi, told local TV that her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly and that the note said: “Go back to your country, you terrorist.”
Hanif Mohebi, director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met Alawadi’s family members on Saturday morning and was told later she had been taken off life support.
“The family is in shock at the moment. They’re still trying to deal with what happened,” Mohebi said.
Police said the family had found a similar note earlier this month but had not reported it to authorities. Himidi said her mother had dismissed the first note as a child’s prank.
A family friend, Sura Alzaidy, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the attack apparently occurred after the father took the younger children to school. Alzaidy said the family is from Iraq and Alawadi was a “respectful modest muhajiba”, meaning she wore the hijab.
Juan Cole: “Basic Facts on Clothing and Murder for American Bigots“
Dear American bigots:
Basic Fact: Wearing a veil, as Iraqi-American Shaima al-Awady did before she was brutally murdered in her home as part of a hate crime, does not make a person a terrorist. You don’t mind it when pious Roman Catholic women wear a nun’s habit, and you recognize that dress as a sign of dedication to God. You don’t blame all the violence ever committed by Roman Catholics, or events like the Inquisition, on a nun in your neighborhood. Be as tolerant to pious Muslim women.
Basic Fact: Wearing a hoodie is not an invitation to murder, as Geraldo Rivera suggested it was in the case of Trayvon Martin. …
Nicole Belle: “Iraqi Immigrant Beaten to Death in California“
She had lived in this country for almost 20 years. Her children were American. Her husband worked to foster better relationships between his native country and his adopted one.
But all these right wing voices, on the radio, on television, in syndicated columns and high-trafficked blogs have made Shaima Alawadi the enemy, for the accident of her birth, her faith. They fill the ears and the empty brains of angry, disaffected people looking to blame anyone for their own crappy lives and they robbed five children of their mother.
Mission accomplished, wingnuts. Welcome to the hell your hate has wrought.
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