Throughout history, racism has always been a problem. Not just in the U.S but everywhere, and it must be stopped.
Many people get harassed all the time for no reason. For example, black people and Arabs get harassed and even killed for no reason all the time. Because of the color of their skin, or the type of clothes that they wear?
This was the case of a 19-year-old woman wearing a hijab at Beaumont hospital in Dearborn, Michigan. The incident occurred on February 10, 2018, where 57-year-old John Deliz walked up to the woman and punched her in the face multiple times for no reason.
He saw she was wearing a hijab and attacked her. A security guard quickly rushes to tackle and detain the man while the staff attended to the woman’s aid. The woman sued the hospital for $25,000 because they discharged the man even though he has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The incident made international news but wasn’t followed up on the criminal case. The 57-year-old man was only charged with misdemeanor assault which only has a maximum sentence of 93-days.
Since the victim wanted to be unnamed I decided to interview her lawyer, Majed Moughni, in his opinion of what happened. He responded with, “I think it was a hate crime. What were the odds he would attack that one woman wearing a hijab out of 5 women in the lobby.”
This incident was very serious but seemed as the man was not placed on as serious as there should’ve been. He explained, “I was disappointed by the charges, the gave him a slap on the wrist and just let it off the hook.
Let’s bring the idea back to how the woman was affected by the incident, her lawyer quoted, “Even though she was not hurt that much physically she will still be haunted by the incident for the rest of her life. She will always be paranoid and looking back because of this incident.”
Racism is a real modern problem but tends to be ignored sometimes. Thus, bringing up, a story of a black man who was shot in his apartment. The shooter, a female police officer, claimed to have seen him as an intruder. But when police found out the man had weed in his apartment many news outlets tried to turn him into the bad guy, instead of the woman who shot him for no reason. Incidents like these happen all the time and they must be stopped.
Racism is a worldwide problem that must be stopped. All people should be treated equally whether the color of their skin or the clothes they wear.
By: Hassan Abboud