Moron Stabs New York Cabbie for Being Muslim

Ahmed Sharif is a pretty normal New York City cab driver. First off, he isn't from New York; 25 years or so ago, he came from Bangladesh. Secondly, he's been driving his hack for about 15 years. Third, he's got four kids who, thanks to the 14th Amendment, are as American as George Washington, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Unfortunately, a passenger slashed him across the neck, face, shoulder and hand because, like most people from Bangladesh, he is a Muslim. The hate-speech has turned into hate-action. His blood is on the hands of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their followers. They are lucky that Mr. Sharif will make a full recovery.

Police have identified the suspect as Michael Enright of Rockland County, New York, north of New York City. He had recently spent 6 weeks in Afghanistan creating a video about the life of an average soldier in Afghanistan. He is also a volunteer with Intersections International, which promotes interfaith tolerance and which supports building the mosque on Park Place in Lower Manhattan. A representative of that group, the Reverend Robert Chase, said, "We've been working very hard to build bridges between folks from different religions and cultures. This is really shocking and sad for us."

Bhairavi Desai, head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said, "The man, 21, started out friendly, asking Mr. Sharif about where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing fast during Ramadan." After a few minutes of silence, Mr. Desai said that Mr. Enright started cursing at Mr. Sharif and shouted "Assalamu Alaikum, consider this a checkpoint." Then, he attacked the driver. Police say Mr. Enright was exceedingly intoxicated.

Now, this is not the first time a New York cab driver has been attacked; indeed, some of them have been killed for just a few dollars. Sadly, one can guarantee Mr. Sharif won't be the last. Mr. Enright, if guilty, isn't the first drunk to pull a knife and do something stupid. Again, he won't be the last.

However, the atmosphere that the rightists have created with their fear-mongering leads young idiots (like Mr. Enright is alleged to be) to do violent awful things. Mr. Sharif most certainly is not a terrorist (despite the reputation of New York cabbies for somewhat aggressive driving). He has had 25 years to commit such an act and has not. Indeed, he has been a law-abiding resident of the US longer than Mr. Enright has been alive. To hold a billion Muslims responsible for the actions of 19 is idiotic. So when does the hectoring stop and does anyone have to get killed before it does? The only effect is has is recruiting for Al Qaeda, giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

Kensington Review Home