Posted on 03/29/2002 4:13:38 PM PST by veronica
San Francisco's mantle as "the city of tolerance" is beginning to rival Philadephia's "the city of brotherly love" tag for sheer absurdity, following two separate anti-Arab and misogynistic attacks Tuesday.
Vandals hit two addresses in the Mission District -- the headquarters of Community United Against Violence at 160 14th St., and the Women's Building at 3543 18th St. -- spray-painting slogans such as "Kill Arabs" and "C---" across walls, doors and a much-loved community mural.
"This was a particularly nasty piece of vandalism," SFPD spokesman Sherman Ackerson said. "It has upset a lot of people."
"The Women's Building is supposed to be one of refuge and safety," spokeswoman Makiko Kambayashi said. "After this, a lot of people are feeling angry, unsettled and violated."
Not that this is a new phenomenon in The City.
Over the past six months, racially motivated hate crimes have been reported across San Francisco and the nation.
Stores, such as Saif Ataya's Noe Valley market, have been trashed. Homes, such as the al Gazawi's former residence in Hunters Point, have been damaged. People, such as Fisherman's Wharf pizza stall owner Shirif Ali Shahad, have been physically assaulted.
"It really has been a time of fear for many Muslims and Arab-Americans in the San Francisco," said Iman Farajallah, who runs the support groups Imannetwork.org and GOMAC (Grassroots Organizers from the Muslim and Arab Communities). "I've taken 133 reports of hate crimes alone, and almost all of them came from San Francisco."
The SFPD's hate crimes unit is investigating the latest attacks on the Community United Against Violence and the Women's Building, Ackerson confirmed Wednesday.
Still, even from such hatred, a positive element is beginning to emerge.
Whereas community groups in the Mission, including the Women's Building, often felt a sense of rivalry among one other, Kambayashi said a new sense of unity is forming.
"At first I was shocked when I saw this, but in a way it was a wake-up call," she said. "We are making connections with new groups, and making sure that we are all safe. We all realize now that we must stand firm and make a statement that this kind of thing is not OK."
Starting today, the Women's Building is seeking volunteers to begin re-painting the nine-year-old mural -- one that expresses messages of peace and unity -- that was damaged in the attack.
For now, though, the remnants of the hate crime remain.
"It just shows that these kind of attacks are still happening, even so long after Sept. 11," Kambayashi said. "We need to take a longer-term approach."
Correct me if I'm wrong, have there been any incidents like this: written threats, swastikas, or the "N" word scrawled on the dorm door of some minority that didn't turn out to be done by the "victims" themselves?
.....But amusing.
It's clear the Femi-Nazis and muslim terrorists are from the same mold.
What about the "right to expression, man " rule used by liberal artists? Putting a crusifix in a glass of urine?
The vandles should refer to it as "art", and the academic liberals will see it as "really deep, man ", and put it in their museums.
Yeah, get over it! It's been like six months or something already. </sarcasm>
Ummm, excuse me self-indulgent san fransciscans, yours is not 'The City'.
I could think of ten cities world-wide that could claim that title.
Don't you people have to write some laws outlawing perfume or something? All the while living on a fault line. Get bent!
So, just what do you object to about CHAD?! Hummmm? :o) fsf
As in "the C---word Monologues"?
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