[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 172 (Wednesday, November 20, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H6114-H6115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ANTI-ARAB HATE CRIMES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Tlaib) for 5 minutes.
  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.

                              {time}  1015

  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.

[[Page H6115]]

  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.

                          ____________________