Anti-Arab Hate Crimes

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the recent surge in anti- Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic hate crimes in our country.

The constant dehumanization of Palestinians has very real and deadly consequences. The hateful rhetoric, including from many elected officials in this Chamber and in the media, is leading to violence in our communities and putting countless lives at risk.

Hisham, Kinnan, and Tahseen are childhood friends, all college students. They were spending Thanksgiving break with Hisham's family in Burlington, Vermont, when they were shot by a man sitting on his porch. They were targeted while wearing kaffiyehs and speaking Arabic. Hisham is now paralyzed from the chest down.

These hate crimes are not isolated incidents, Mr. Speaker. In October of last year, a man from Farmington Hills, Michigan, posted on social media, asking if anyone in the metro Detroit area wanted to come to my district to go hunt Palestinians.

This threat to commit mass murder horrified our community in Dearborn, many not wanting to open their doors, as they were already grieving the loss of so many loved ones and friends from the horrific genocide taking place.

Last month in Detroit, 7-year-old Saida--I wish people would take the time to actually listen to her interview as a Yemeni-American child of Muslim faith--was playing at her local park and was brutally attacked. A man approached her out of nowhere and slit her throat with a knife. Saida ran home to her parents covered in blood.

As a mother, I cannot fathom the horror her parents must have felt at that moment watching their little girl come running in, bleeding and terrified.

Saida survived but she would live with the trauma for the rest of her life. Nightmares keep Saida awake at night. She said she dreams her attacker is right next to her.

In Texas, a mother wearing a hijab was watching her children swim in the community pool when she was approached by a woman interrogating her about what language she was speaking.

The woman then jumped into the pool, attempted to drown her 3-year- old Palestinian daughter who was gasping for breath, for air, as she was pushed under the water in the deep end of the pool. The woman threatened to kill the whole family as the police were carrying her away.

Her mother said: We are American citizens originally from Palestine, and I don't know where to go to feel safe with my kids. My daughter is traumatized. Whenever I open the door, she runs away and hides telling me she is afraid that lady will come back and try to attack her again.

Here we go with Wadea. Everyone knows about Wadea, I hope. In Chicago, a 6-year-old child was brutally attacked in his own home by his landlord, of all people. His mother ran to the bathroom to call the police.

His attacker was yelling, you Muslims must die, while he stabbed little Wadea's body 26 times. They had to pull the knife out of his small body.

His mother came back, and she saw Wadea's lifeless body there. They were taken to the hospital and all she felt was just this sense that she will never ever be able to see her child.

``We are not animals. We are humans,'' Wadea's uncle, Yousef, said. These stories, as horrifying as they are--I am thinking of the fact that these are the ones who made the headlines. Behind them are countless others, unreported incidents with families living in fear and communities being targeted.

I was approached by a father who said his child was on her school bus and somebody tried to rip her hijab off.

I said, did you report it?

Who do I report that to, he said?

What terrifies me the most, again, are these acts of violence are born from a culture of dehumanization.

Where is the outrage from my colleagues in this Chamber?

Why don't my colleagues denounce Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Arab hate?

We must push back against dangerous rhetoric that fuels this violence and call out those that continue to push for dehumanizing narratives that contribute to and spread this kind of violence.

Stop using racist tropes that feed into this hate. I know firsthand what it feels like to be targeted with hate. I receive death threats, smears, hate mail, and relentless harassment right outside of my office.

To the families of Wadea, Hisham, Kinnan, Tahseen, Saida, and so many others who we will never know about, I want them to know I see them, I grieve with them, and I stand with them.

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