Crimes Against Muslims Multiply

Middle Easterners and Muslims will probably top the list of groups targeted for hate crimes in Orange County for the first time this year, authorities say.

In the three weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 37 hate crimes were reported against those groups or people perceived to be members of them, according to the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

That’s six times the number reported against the group in all of 2000, and the most since 1991, when 14 attacks against Middle Easterners were reported against the backdrop of the Gulf War.

“There’s been an unprecedented number of hate-related incidents in such a short period of time,” said Rusty Kennedy, the commission’s executive director. “We’re probably only seeing the tip of the iceberg.”

The surge comes as the number of hate crimes in Orange County has steadily declined since 1998. Since 1994, Jews have been the most targeted group in Orange County; last year, they were victims of 31 of the county’s 122 hate crimes.

Kennedy said that while a full report for 2001 won’t be available until March, it appears that the Sept. 11 backlash against Middle Easterners and Muslims will push them to the top of this year’s list.

The one piece of good news: The surge in attacks dropped off quickly since early October, with only a couple since then, Kennedy said. He did not have a number.

That falloff, however, hasn’t fully dampened the unease among Orange County’s Muslims, said Ra’id Faraj, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim.

“The community is very intimidated,” he said. “The fear is still very much out there. People still don’t know what could happen next.”

The incidents reported since Sept. 11 run the gamut, from threatening phone calls and graffiti to road rage and assault.

An ice cream truck driver was chased by a man with a bat. An elderly Iranian couple was threatened while on a morning walk. A man was punched in San Clemente. A restaurant owner’s phone line was cut.

About a third of the incidents were reported in Anaheim, where there is a large Muslim community. Three-quarters of all the incidents were oral. The most serious crime occurred in October, after the initial wave, when a man of Asian Indian descent was mistaken for a Middle Easterner and severely beaten outside an Anaheim karaoke bar.

In a third of the recent cases, the victim was misidentified as Arab or Muslim based on clothing or skin color, Kennedy said.

In the unsolved Anaheim beating, police suspect a group of Asians. On Thursday, authorities released a composite sketch of a man wanted for questioning in the assault.

“Hate comes in all colors,” Kennedy said. “The perception that white supremacists are responsible for all hate crimes is false.”

Los Angeles County authorities reported a similar pattern in hate crimes. In the three months after the terrorist attacks, there have been seven times more reports of hate crimes directed against Middle Easterners in Los Angeles County than in all of last year, county officials said Thursday.

The Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission said that between Sept. 11 and Dec. 12, 92 hate crimes were committed against individuals or groups because of a belief they were Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent.

“As you can see, a wave of hate followed Sept. 11,” said Robin Toma, commission executive director. “This is a huge jump from previous years.”

In all of 2000, Toma said, there were a dozen anti-Middle Eastern hate crimes.

Some of the incidents the commission listed as hate crimes have not yet been deemed hate crimes by the police agencies investigating them. But police also say the crimes remain unsolved and that hate cannot be eliminated as a motive.

“There are two reported murders still being investigated as possible hate crimes,” Toma said.

Adel Karas, 48, a Coptic Egyptian grocer, was killed Sept. 15 in his San Gabriel store. Abdullah Nimer, 53, a Palestinian American and father of six, was slain Oct. 13. while selling clothing door to door in South Los Angeles.

Most of the reported crimes occurred in the three weeks immediately after Sept. 11, with the majority being acts of vandalism or criminal threats.

Toma said there were also 77 incidents of hate, where something was said or written against those of Middle Eastern descent but it did not rise to a crime.

Toma also said reporting of such incidents varies.

Also Thursday, actress Patricia Arquette joined the commission at a news conference to announce a series of public service radio announcements she has put together with other artists to combat hate.

“Diversity makes America beautiful,” said Arquette, whose father is a Muslim and mother is Jewish. “My father celebrates Ramadan. My mother celebrates Hanukkah.”