Since we had some discussion of media coverage of this, I thought I would forward it. rb Victims of hate crimes recount horror stories Outpouring of post-Sept. 11 traumas in S.F. Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, January 11, 2002 San Francisco Chronicle URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/11/MN80674.DTL San Francisco -- Life changed fast for Saif Ataya after the jetliners hijacked by terrorists slammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center towers four months ago today. First came the name-calling and death threats. Then the hateful graffiti and vandalism at his small San Francisco store. The breaking point, however, was when his 5-year-old daughter was called a terrorist on her schoolyard. "I was devastated," said Ataya, an Arab American who runs a corner grocery store in the city's quiet Eureka Valley neighborhood. Ataya's post-Sept. 11 experience is part of a disturbing trend. According to figures recited yesterday during a hearing at San Francisco City Hall, the number of hate crimes and cases of discrimination and harassment against Arab Americans and Muslims has soared nationwide since Sept.11. Yesterday's hearing before the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and San Francisco supervisors was convened by Supervisor Gavin Newsom to give victims of hate violence and discrimination a chance to tell their stories in public. It also provided an opportunity for law enforcement officials -- from the FBI, San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco district attorney -- to promise that these cases have been given a high priority in terms of enforcement and prosecution. "We have zero tolerance," said District Attorney Terence Hallinan. Among those testifying was state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who noted that before Sept. 11, his office logged about five hate crimes a day, with blacks and gays the most frequent victims. Since the terrorist attacks, the number has jumped to 20 a day. Crimes against Arab Americans, Muslims and those perceived to be in those groups accounted for the large increase. According to national statistics compiled by the San Francisco organization Intergroup Clearinghouse, there have been more than 1,700 cases of discrimination and violence against Arab Americans, Muslims, South Asians and Sikhs since Sept. 11. Six deaths have been reported. Nearly one-third of the backlash cases were logged in California. Bay Area law enforcement agencies, community groups and civil rights organizations received 338 complaints. Experts say those numbers probably represent only a sliver of the actual cases of violence, harassment and discrimination, since victims are often reluctant to come forward. "In the Bay Area, we've had people beaten up so badly that they've ended up in the hospital with concussions," said Jill Tregor, executive director of Intergroup Clearinghouse. "We've had families forced from their housing. We've had kids scared to go to school. Vandalism. Death threats." Like Ataya, Amatullah Almarwani had a horror story to tell. She said she still goes to bed recalling the phone call she got at the Islamic Center of San Francisco right after the terrorist attacks. A calm voice "informed me that there was a bullet waiting for my head, and the head of my child," she said. Now, said Almarwani, who works at the Islamic center, fear runs through her community. Fewer people worship in mosques or frequent Arab American businesses. Others testified yesterday that they have been fired from their jobs, evicted from their housing, shunned in stores and victimized by police profiling. Beatings, rocks thrown through windows and verbal taunts have become routine. Nuwafq Sheikh has driven a bus for the Municipal Railway in San Francisco for the past 10 years. Before Sept. 11, he said he never experienced anti-Arab harassment. Things are different now. "I've had people ask me if I had a bomb on my bus, or if I plan to crash the bus into a building," he said. "I've been called a terrorist and told that I look like Osama bin Laden. I just hope the problem will go away one day." Victims and their advocates urged officials to do more and recommended programs to inform the public about tolerance, to crack down on offenders, to track hate-based violence, harassment and discrimination, to provide more support services for victims and to make sure that those in authority, such as teachers and cops, take the incidents seriously. "We are Americans," said Almarwani, "and we are suffering." E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon@sfchronicle.com. San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 17
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