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In a crowded commuter in Portland, Oregon’s largest city, two men were stabbed to death by a passenger who was bullying two Muslim women. Trying to defend the women, the two men lost their lives while a third passenger was severely wounded and was sent to the hospital. According to CNN, the suspect was arrested later on Saturday 27th of May, and was identified as Jeremy Joseph Christian.
American authorities claim that the killing occurred after, Christian, 35, allegedly started yelling at the two women in a Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light-rail train. The bullying included hate speech «toward a variety of ethnicities and religions», Portland police sergeant told the same source. The two victims were later identified as Ricky John Best, 53, who died at the scene and Taliesin Myrddin Namkain-Meche, 23, died in the hospital.
«President Trump must speak out personally against the rising tide of Islamophobia»
Responding to the deadly attack that took place on Friday 26th of May, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights and advocatory group headquartered in Washington D.C., denounced the rise of hate crimes in the USA. Speaking to the CNN, Nihad Awad, the National Executive Director of the organization pointed out that : «President Trump must speak out personally against the rising tide of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and racism in our nation that he has provoked through his numerous statements, policies and appointments that have negatively impacted minority communities».
Ph. CAIR report entitled " The Empowerment of Hate"
Awad also urged Trump to condemn the attack and the «rising bigotry» against Muslims in the USA. In a report released by CAIR and entitled «The Empowerment of Hate», it is reported that «in 2016, CAIR recorded a 57 % increase in anti-Muslim bias incidents over 2015. This was accompanied by a 44 % increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the same period». The same survey this year indicates that «from 2014 to 2016, anti-Muslim bias incidents jumped 65 %», adding that «two-year period, CAIR finds that hate crimes targeting Muslims surged 584 %».
Toxic political speech
The presidential race was one of the factors that triggered the increase of anti-Muslim hate crimes in the USA.«When Donald Trump became President of the United States on January 20, 2017, he brought an unprecedented record of conditioning audiences to fear Muslims», CAIR reports indicating that : «Trump has stated that he believes 'Islam hates us,' and alleges that there is 'no real assimilation' by US Muslims, both of which ideas have been thoroughly disproven by independent sources».
The alleged Portland attacker earlier on April during "March for Free Speech" giving a Nazi salute./Ph. Doug Brown
The nationalist speech has definitely impacted some of the US citizens. Portland alleged attacker, has been known as a «white supremacist». According to the Portland Mercury, local online newspaper, reports that on April 29th Christian «showed up to the right-wing 'March for speech'…He'd soon yelled racial slurs and gave the Nazi salute throughout the day». The same source posted statements on his Facebook page which are mostly «anti-Semitic».
