Congress woman Ilhan Omar. The Muslim Times has the best collection to refute Islamophobia
Source: The Guardian
In a letter to the judge who will decide on the case, Omar said: ‘The answer to hate is not more hate; it is compassion’
By Poppy Noor in New York; @PoppyNoor
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has a message for the judge who will decide the fate of the man who threatened to kill her: she wants restorative justice.
Patrick Carlineo called Omar’s office in the middle of the day on 21 March and got through to one of her staffers. On the call, Carlineo is said to have accused Omar of being a terrorist, before saying: “Why are you working for her, she’s a [expletive] terrorist. Somebody ought to put a bullet in her skull. Back in the day, our forefathers would have put a bullet in her [expletive].” (US attorneys removed the actual expletives in their filing.)
Carlineo pleaded guilty to the offense on Tuesday.
In a letter to Judge Frank Geraci, who will decide on the case, Omar pleaded for compassion for Carlineo.
In a two-page open letter, Omar began by stressing the seriousness of his crime.
“As someone who fled a war zone, I know how destabilizing acts of political violence can be. That his threat of violence relied on hateful stereotypes about my faith only made it more dangerous … It was a threat against an entire religion, at a time of rising hate crime against religious minorities in our country,” she said.
Noting that those who commit acts of violence have often been victims of alienation and neglect themselves, Omar said that compassion, not retribution, might be the only way to rehabilitate him:
“We must ask: who are we as a nation if we respond to acts of political retribution with retribution ourselves? The answer to hate is not more hate; it is compassion,” she wrote.
Omar suggested that community integration and social services would serve Carlineo better than a long prison sentence or a hefty fine. If convicted, his alleged crime could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.
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Categories: America, Americas, Islam, Islamophobia, Sectarianism, United States, USA
