At Virginia Mosque, Loretta Lynch Speaks Out Against Hate Crimes

By Gary Nguyen --
13 Dec 2016 --

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks on rising hate crime Monday morning during a visit to a Virginia mosque.

A Northern Virginia mosque witnessed a visit by Loretta Lynch, the United States Attorney General. She spoke about the need to unite all citizens so that core American values can be defended. The Attorney General spoke to a crowd comprising of people of all faiths. She asked them to defend their neighbors if the time comes.

At Virginia Mosque, Loretta Lynch Speaks Out Against Hate Crimes[/tweetthis]

Lynch drew parallels between an increase in hate crimes directed against Muslims and the blatant discrimination previous generations have overcome. She repeatedly stressed that attacks on a single group means all members of that society becoming susceptible to danger. Speaking at the Sterling All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center Lynch said, “There is a pernicious thread that connects the act of violence against a woman wearing a hijab to the assault on a transgender man to the tragic deaths of nine innocent African Americans during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina. There is a thread that links all of those, and when one of us is threatened, all of us are threatened.”

The FBI reported a whopping 67 percent increase in the incidence of hate crimes conducted against Muslims in 2015 when contrasted with 2014. The aftermath of Donald Trump’s election saw civil rights groups documenting a number of incidents around the United States. In almost all cases, the attackers targeted Muslims, immigrants. African-Americans, LGBT people and Jews. On November 18, Lynch released a video which showed her providing support to minority groups like Muslims. She is also scheduled to hold roundtable meetings with LGBT youths. The venue is a high school in New York. She will also visit Stonewall National Monument. The aim is to promote civil rights for LGBT people.

The anti-Muslim situation got worse after the electoral triumph of Trump. In a number of states, including California, mosques were the recipients of terse messages which inform those present that the new President-elect is the sheriff who will clean up America and make the nation shine again. The analogy of this happening is whatever Hitler did to the Jews, the Americans will do to Muslims. About 300 Muslim leaders gave an open letter to President-Elect Trump where they expressed their serious concerns about policy proposals. They asked him to protect communities from such provoked attacks.