Killing of Iraqi Woman Leaves Immigrant Community Shaken

[General Mung Beans]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us/ki ... ml?_r=1&hp

Iraqi Immigrants in California Town Fear a Hate Crime in a Woman’s Killing

Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
Kassim Alhimidi wept over the body of his wife, Shaima Alawadi, at a prayer ceremony on Tuesday. She died after being found severely beaten in her home near San Diego.
By IAN LOVETT and WILL CARLESS
Published: March 27, 2012

EL CAJON, Calif. — Shaima Alawadi’s family says they found the first note taped to the front door of their house on a quiet suburban street here. It said: “This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist,” according to her 15-year-old son, Mohammed.
Related

The Lede Blog: Killing of Iraqi Woman in San Diego Draws Global Condemnation Online (March 25, 2012)



Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
Mourners gathered around the body of Shaima Alawadi during a service Tuesday at the Islamic Center of Lakeside in San Diego.
Ms. Alawadi’s husband, Kassim Alhimidi, says he wanted to call the police. But his wife said no, insisting the note was only a child’s prank. Like many others in the neighborhood, the couple were immigrants from Iraq. In 17 years in the United States, they had been called terrorists before, he said.

But last Wednesday, Ms. Alawadi was found in the family’s dining room by her 17-year-daughter, lying unconscious in a puddle of blood with a severe head wound. Nearby lay another threatening note, similar to the one the family found a week earlier.

Ms. Alawadi, 32, died three days later. The police caution against jumping to conclusions, saying they are still trying to determine whether she was targeted because of her religion or ethnicity, calling that just one possibility.

“At this point, we are not calling it a hate crime,” said Lt. Mark Coit of the El Cajon police. “We haven’t made that determination. We are calling it an isolated incident, because we don’t have any evidence of anything similar going on at this point.”

Whatever the police eventually determine, the crime has shattered the sense of security for Iraqi immigrants in El Cajon, exposing cultural tensions and distrust that have often simmered just below the surface since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Hanif Mohebi, director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that many Muslim women in the area were worried that Ms. Alawadi had been targeted because she wore a headscarf in public, as many observant Muslim women do.

“The majority of the community that wears scarves are concerned,” Mr. Mohebi said. He cautioned against a rush to judgment before the police had finished investigating. Still, he added, “the community has gone through some hate crimes before, and the assumption the people have is that they’re going through one now.”

Two decades ago, El Cajon, just northeast of San Diego, was largely white and English-speaking. But as wars in their homelands pushed more and more Iraqis and others to emigrate, the Middle Eastern population here has exploded. El Cajon now houses one of the largest Iraqi communities in the country. Middle Eastern groceries and restaurants dot Main Street, while on the sidewalks, many families stroll by speaking in Arabic.

Ms. Alawadi and her husband moved to the United States from Saudi Arabia in 1995 after fleeing Iraq during the first gulf war. They then had five children, and for the most part, Mr. Alhimidi said, their neighbors here made them feel welcome.

Still, even before this month, he was already familiar with the kind of language he says was on the notes left at his house.

“Some neighbors, I say ‘hi’ to them, and they just turn away,” Mr. Alhimidi said in Arabic, with his son Mohammed translating. “More than 95 percent of the time, I feel welcome. But once in a while, people shout at you. They shout ‘terrorist,’ or ‘go back to your country.’ ”

Most people in town lamented Ms. Alawadi’s killing as a tragedy. Janet Ilko, a middle school teacher, said the news had come as a shock to students.

“It was upsetting to everyone,” Ms. Ilko, 47, said. “Our community is very close-knit. Our students get along very well. People have been here a long time.”

But tension between the newcomers from the Middle East and some of the town’s other residents was also readily apparent on Main Street, even this week. One woman, 30, who was at a park with her children and refused to give her name, called the city’s Iraqi residents “territorial,” adding, “maybe because we are at war with them.” She said her own background was Mexican, though she had grown up in Southern California.

That tension extends to non-Muslims as well.

“I’ve lived here for 32 years, and I’ve been told many times to go back to my country,” said Sascha Atta, an immigrant from Afghanistan. “Here in El Cajon, most of the Iraqis are not even Muslim, they are Christian, but people don’t know the difference.”

One of those Iraqi Christians is Lara Yalda, 18, who fled the country with her family in 2004, living in Syria for six years before coming to El Cajon, where she is now in high school. She said that last year one teacher told all of the Iraqi students to go back to their country, complaining that they took welfare and other money from the United States. That teacher does not teach Iraqi students anymore but still works at the school, she said.

Ms. Yalda said Ms. Alawadi’s death frightened her.

“Yeah, I’m scared,” Ms. Yalda said. “I feel sad, because here it is a free country, and there is no reason to kill her. She has a family. So why did they kill her? ”

The killing does not make sense to Ms. Alawadi’s son Mohammed either.

“There’s only three people that know what happened,” he said. “God, my mom and the guy who did it.”

This definitely looks racially and/or religiously motivated to me.

[Phantasee]

The note is what makes it clearly a hate crime. According to other news sources, it essentially said, 'go back to your country, terrorist'. Or other words to that effect.

[Questor]

EL CAJON, Calif. — Shaima Alawadi’s family says they found the first note taped to the front door of their house on a quiet suburban street here. It said: “This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist,” according to her 15-year-old son, Mohammed.

According to this one, too.

[SpaceMarine93]

[Deleted by poster]

[White Haven]

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, leaving a note like that would be a great way to attempt to force an investigation to angle in a particular direction, if there was another motive for the killing. Let's say I killed her for a hidden stash of <irrelevant>, then left notes implying it was a hate crime. If it works, the police are looking for a right-wing nutjob, and not trying to watch for someone to fence stolen <whatever>. Not saying that's the case, but if the police investigate under the assumption that it IS a hate crime, they leave themselves open to that sort of manipulation.

[cosmicalstorm]

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, leaving a note like that would be a great way to attempt to force an investigation to angle in a particular direction, if there was another motive for the killing. Let's say I killed her for a hidden stash of <irrelevant>, then left notes implying it was a hate crime. If it works, the police are looking for a right-wing nutjob, and not trying to watch for someone to fence stolen <whatever>. Not saying that's the case, but if the police investigate under the assumption that it IS a hate crime, they leave themselves open to that sort of manipulation.

That is somewhat far fetched. Somebody with the mental faculties to come up with that plan would probably chose another path to execute the intended goal. It's not like we are running out of tribal xenophobes who spend their lifes immersed in whatever <Insert name of supposedly pure and original tribe> fantasy.

[Mr Bean]

That is somewhat far fetched. Somebody with the mental faculties to come up with that plan would probably chose another path to execute the intended goal. It's not like we are running out of tribal xenophobes who spend their lifes immersed in whatever <Insert name of supposedly pure and original tribe> fantasy.

It's not that far fetched, people are getting smarter about crimes in part because of the culture at large. We had a good sixty years from when the police began using fingerprints to ID crooks till it became public knowledge and you saw more and more glove usage during crimes. Likewise the concept of profiling has become big and criminals are starting to understand that they can stand a larger chance of getting away with the crime. This is a standard trope of misdirection for in the media and lets be honest what people learn about how to commit crime is probably coming from CSI.

Of course all of this applies to premeditated crimes crimes of passion are still happening all the time but the fact the family says they got a similar note leads me into the line that this was premeditated so make no assumptions and not just focus solely on the local know hate groups and affiliates but also do the legwork to make sure I can track down those she knew best to eliminate them from the list.

Just because you find a note you don't assume.

[White Haven]

“At this point, we are not calling it a hate crime,” said Lt. Mark Coit of the El Cajon police. “We haven’t made that determination. We are calling it an isolated incident, because we don’t have any evidence of anything similar going on at this point.”

This, however, is poor phrasing from a PR perspective. There is no charge for 'not a hate crime,' which means if you're not calling it a hate crime, you're calling it not a hate crime, which implies a position. Whether that position exists or not is irrelevant, it's just a suboptimal way to present it to the public. Say 'We have not yet determined whether to charge this as a hate crime' or some such, and don't even say 'we are calling it an isolated incident,' because that implies that you've decided it's not a hate crime. Again, I'm not arguing wrong-doing on the part of the police, not at all, but that their word choices convey meanings they don't intend.

[TheFeniX]

That is somewhat far fetched. Somebody with the mental faculties to come up with that plan would probably chose another path to execute the intended goal. It's not like we are running out of tribal xenophobes who spend their lifes immersed in whatever <Insert name of supposedly pure and original tribe> fantasy.

The amount of thought put into these plans is pretty chilling. Not to say the notes aren't legitimate and that this isn't the work of violent bigots, but someone leaving behind evidence like this is pretty stupid. Especially when this is clearly premeditated. Beating someone to death is a pretty personal way to get things done. A knife would make the job a lot easier, not to mention a gun. Guns are loud, but so it beating someone into a coma.

I'm sure the investigators are looking at every angle.

There is no charge for 'not a hate crime,' which means if you're not calling it a hate crime, you're calling it not a hate crime, which implies a position.

Wait... what? They don't even have a suspect yet.

[White Haven]

Yees, which is why I'm talking about public relations, not charges already laid against a suspect. Y'know, exactly as I said in my post.