OPINION:
A few weeks ago, authorities in Nigeria uncovered hundreds of cases of horrendous abuse of boys at so-called Islamic reform schools, “Almajiris” — abuse so wicked it was described by one local law enforcement official as tantamount to “modern slavery.”
But don’t expect CAIR National, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, headquartered in Washington, D.C., to do much about it.
The organization with a mission “to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding” is much too busy drumming up hate crime charges against a TJ Maxx shopper — a shopper the group goes out of its way to classify as a “white woman” and, deceitfully, a “Trump supporter” — to worry about Islam-tied abuse of little boys.
First, the big story — the one where Muslim school officials were busted shackling and abusing little boys sent to them to learn the ways of Islam.
BBC News just reported police “discovered more than 70 young men and boys in shackles when they raided a private Islamic school in northern Nigeria.” Meanwhile, “hundreds have been freed from three similar institutions in recent weeks,” the news organization wrote.
From BBC: “Parents sent their children [to these Almajiris schools] hoping to correct their poor behaviors as well as acquire Islamic educations.”
Instead, the boys — as young as 5 years old — were tortured and sexually abused.
Breitbart wrote, “One of the victims told the Nigerian Tribune that he had been abducted and chained up for three months so that he would ’learn about the Koran and Islam.’ “
An outrage. A human rights tragedy.
And that bit alone — the part about being chained as part of the education process of Islam — would seem, should seem perfect for CAIR response. Right?
CAIR, after all, touts a mission that’s dedicated to dispelling common myths about Muslims — particularly those supposed myths that paint Islam as a religion of extremism, bent on a convert-or-die type of proselyting.
But here’s what CAIR National’s focused on instead: spreading unproven allegations about a “white woman’s “assault” of a Muslim shopper at T.J. Maxx in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
Spreading hysteria about supposed Islamophobia — facts be danged.
Spreading more allegations — unfounded — about the inherent anti-Muslim hate of President Donald Trump supporters.
What’s known is this: A woman shopping at T.J. Maxx in Brooklyn over the weekend was captured on video coming out of the store, holding up her middle finger, slapping at the camera and warning, “Get out of my face or I’m going to f— you up,” and then being escorted by her friend from the scene as she vowed, “I’m gonna hit him, I’m gonna hit him.”
The video doesn’t explain why the woman was angry. The video doesn’t give any context of what transpired in the store between this woman and the guy shooting the video — later identified as a Muslim man named Mido Mourad who was shopping for winter clothes with his family. Mourad, it was also identified later — not by CAIR but rather by The New York Daily News — is a journalist from Cairo living in the city.
Enter CAIR National, with a sob story of a hate crime against an innocent Muslim family.
“While a Muslim family was shopping inside the TJ Maxx in Bay Ridge, a white woman began to harass the family and yelled at them to ’Go Back to Your Country!’ The family asked for assistance from TJ Maxx to deal with the harassment but were allegedly refused any help,” CAIR wrote on its website. “The family called the police, and while waiting, the white female assailant allegedly attacked and struck the Muslim man. The family filed harassment complaint with NYPD. The family captured the assault on video.”
Except the video doesn’t exactly show that.
The video shows an angry New Yorker doing what angry New Yorkers do — flipping the bird. The slap at the camera was over-the-top, but hardly to the level of what CAIR and this Muslim man-slash-journalist painted.
From CAIR National’s Twitter feed: “CAIR-NY: Pols demand hate crime investigation after woman attacks #Muslim family in #Brooklyn store, yells ’Go back to your country!’ “
Another CAIR tweet, a day or so earlier: “’My wife and I were attacked by this white lady at T.J. Maxx in Bay Ridge … We were at the TJ Maxx trying to buy winter clothes for our twins,’ Mourad said.” That tweet linked to a story from The New York Daily News referring to the attacker as a “Trump supporter.”
Another CAIR tweet, a couple of hours before that one: “’It is unacceptable that TJ Maxx would value the business of a bigot over protecting their Muslim customers from repugnant harassment,’ said CAIR-NY Litigation Director Ahmed Mohamed.”
Another, before that: “#BreakingNews VIDEO: CAIR-NY Calls for Hate Crime Probe of Anti-#Muslim, Anti-#Immigrant Assault at TJ Maxx in Bay Ridge. … #Islamophobia #racism #Immigration #WhiteSupremacy.”
And yet another, before that: “VIDEO: @CairNewYork Calls for #HateCrime Probe of Anti-#Muslim, Anti-#Immigrant Assault at @tjmaxx in Bay Ridge.”
Good Lord.
It’s as if the woman had been wielding a knife, stabbing away while shouting, “All glory to God” or something.
The media, absent the facts, ran with the CAIR version.
Patch reported, “Muslim Family Attacked At Brooklyn TJ Maxx: Video.”
The New York Daily News reported, “Pols demand hate crime investigation after woman attacks Muslim family in Brooklyn store, yells ’Go back to your country!’”
And Newsweek wrote this, “Muslim Family Says ’Trump Supporter’ Harassed Then in TJ Maxx Store, Yelled ’Go Back to Your Count[r]y.”
Where’d the “Trump supporter” tag come from?
From none other than Cairo journalist Mido Mourad — the very guy who says he was attacked — who posted that conclusion on his own Facebook page.
“Crazy trump supporter attack Muslims in NYC,” Mourad wrote in English, above a post he penned in a foreign language.
And now the pressure’s on for police, the community, government, whomever to do something — do something! — to stop the Islamophobia of Trump supporters.
It’s all such deception.
It’s all so preliminary and absent facts.
But that’s CAIR for you; that’s the anti-Trumping media for you.
In plain sight is a story of egregious Islam-tied abuse and violence — against little boys, no less. But rather than report that inconvenient truth, rather than focus on any uncomfortable truths of Islam and Sharia that might cast negative light on the Muslim community, Islam’s apologists distract with a tale of woe about an Islamaphobic white woman. Er, make that an Islamaphobic angry white woman. Oh wait, make that an Islamophobic angry white Trump-supporting white woman.
Yeah, that’ll work.
Good one, CAIR.
It’s just too bad about those poor Nigerian boys, isn’t it? Too bad, so sad. But there are Trump supporters to fry.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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