Mosque burned in Joplin Mo.
The shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak
Creek, Wis., is the day’s worst example of
hateful violence — but it is not, sadly,
the only one. Early Monday morning,
someone set fire to the Islamic Society of
Joplin during Islam’s holy month of
Ramadan. The mosque couldn’t be saved,
so now there are 50 Muslim families in
Joplin, Mo. — the same town devastated
by a tornado last May — without a place
to worship.
The destruction follows earlier fires,
including one on July 4, when someone
threw a flaming object onto the mosque’s
roof. If it was an attempt at arson, it
wasn’t a very good one. There wasn’t
much damage, though the miscreant
managed to be captured in a security
video, and the FBI offered a reward for
information on the arson.
Oddly, despite the video evidence and
reward, there was never an arrest.
Muslims in Joplin probably weren’t
surprised: When they opened their
mosque and community center in 2007,
their sign was torched. That crime, too,
remains unsolved.
That’s a lot of open cases in a town as
small as Joplin. I do not believe the
arsonist acted alone, or in a vacuum. The
perpetrator has bragged somewhere, in a
bar, at work, at – yes! — church. And
while Joplin residents would do well to
hold a vigil and take up a collection to
help their Muslim neighbors rebuild, the
best thing would be to turn this yahoo
in....
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/06/mosque_burned_in_joplin_another_hate_crime/
Creek, Wis., is the day’s worst example of
hateful violence — but it is not, sadly,
the only one. Early Monday morning,
someone set fire to the Islamic Society of
Joplin during Islam’s holy month of
Ramadan. The mosque couldn’t be saved,
so now there are 50 Muslim families in
Joplin, Mo. — the same town devastated
by a tornado last May — without a place
to worship.
The destruction follows earlier fires,
including one on July 4, when someone
threw a flaming object onto the mosque’s
roof. If it was an attempt at arson, it
wasn’t a very good one. There wasn’t
much damage, though the miscreant
managed to be captured in a security
video, and the FBI offered a reward for
information on the arson.
Oddly, despite the video evidence and
reward, there was never an arrest.
Muslims in Joplin probably weren’t
surprised: When they opened their
mosque and community center in 2007,
their sign was torched. That crime, too,
remains unsolved.
That’s a lot of open cases in a town as
small as Joplin. I do not believe the
arsonist acted alone, or in a vacuum. The
perpetrator has bragged somewhere, in a
bar, at work, at – yes! — church. And
while Joplin residents would do well to
hold a vigil and take up a collection to
help their Muslim neighbors rebuild, the
best thing would be to turn this yahoo
in....
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/06/mosque_burned_in_joplin_another_hate_crime/
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- groups:
- Community
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- tags:
- Hate Crimes
