More New York Hate Attacks—On a Muslim Cop and a Subway Worker
Just as you probably didn’t see any national coverage of the assault on a Muslim college student riding the New York subway, you also probably didn’t see stories about more attacks in the last few days—including one on a New York City cop.
Sunday
‘I will cut your throat!’: Man attacks Muslim cop and her son
A suspect was arrested Sunday in the Brooklyn attack on an off-duty Muslim cop wearing a hijab.
“Go back to your country,” the man yelled at NYPD Officer Aml Elsokary during the incident Saturday.
He also targeted the cop’s 16-year-old son — shoving him and shouting a slur that referenced ISIS — before telling them both, “I will cut your throat! Go back to your country!” sources said.
The incident is being probed as a hate crime.
The suspect, whose name was not released, lives near the scene of the attack, on Ridge Boulevard and 67th Street in Bay Ridge.
Elsokary made headlines in 2014 when she helped rescue an old man and a baby from a burning building.
Monday
Muslim MTA worker in hijab pushed down stairs, called ‘terrorist’
A Muslim New York City Transit employee who was wearing a hijab with her uniform was injured when she was pushed down the stairs at Grand Central Terminal Monday morning by a man who called her a “terrorist,” officials said.
The 45-year-old woman was on her way to work at 6:20 a.m. when the man confronted her on the 7 Train.
“You’re a terrorist and you shouldn’t be working for the city,” the hate-monger spewed at her while the two were on the train, as he jabbed at her MTA patch.
He followed her off the train and pushed her down the stairs. Her ankle and knee were injured and she was taken to NYU Langone Hospital.
We have to start facing a few realities, though strategies to deal with them are still to be determined. One is not just the presence of hate and intolerance—an age-old problem—but the growing aggressive expression of that hate, possibly in light of the current political climate. Another is a certain willingness to stand by while that happens—also long-standing—because we will always have such people and that’s just the way things are. A final reality is much of the news media, which, with all due respect, spent the presidential campaign focused on all kinds of nonsense and missing all kinds of truth, sometimes in the name of being “objective” and not judging or having opinions.
These latest examples of necessary truths are not matters of opinion. What’s wrong is wrong, and if the media is uncomfortable reporting or analyzing it, maybe they have outlived their usefulness and relevance.
Bob Schwartz 