Posted on 05/27/2007 1:51:55 AM PDT by Sleeping Beauty
A teenager was charged with felony hate crimes yesterday, a day after he forced a 15-year-old Sikh schoolmate into a boys’ bathroom in Queens, tore off his turban and sheared his hair, the authorities said.
According to the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, the teenager, Umair Ahmed, 17, walked up to the Sikh, Vacher Harpal, in a hallway at Newtown High School in Elmhurst shortly after noon on Thursday and said, “I have to cut your hair.” Mr. Ahmed was holding a pair of scissors, Mr. Brown said.
Vacher replied: “For what? It is against my religion,” according to Mr. Brown. Mr. Ahmed, who is of Pakistani descent, then displayed a ring inscribed with Arabic words, and said: “This ring is Allah. If you don’t let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring,” Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Ahmed then forced Vacher into a boys’ bathroom, and Vacher began crying as he removed his turban, begging Mr. Ahmed not to cut his waist-length hair, which, in accordance with the Sikh religion, had never been cut, Mr. Brown said.
But Mr. Ahmed cut Vacher’s hair to the neckline, then threw the hair into a toilet and onto the floor, Mr. Brown said. One student, who was not charged, stood at the bathroom door and acted as a lookout, the police said. Another student, a friend of Vacher’s, saw the attack, they said. The police said a teacher’s aide notified a school safety officer after being alerted by a student.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
IIRC didn’t some kids do the same thing to Elvis?
They also routinely carry cold steel for religious and self-defense purposes. I do have to wonder why this kid just cried, if the story reports accurately. (which is not a forgone conclusion.)
Something tells me that the Sikh teen is not allowed to carry a ‘weapon’ in school — zero tolerance, ya know... Hence, why the Muslim kid used scissors which he probably picked up off the teachers’ desk.
Not to mention that I’ve taken weapons away from people more than once.
LOL... I understand what you mean. I’ve still got lead residue in my hand from 25 years ago when I was accidently stabbed with a pencil — man did that hurt like heck...
It’s a shame this kid didn’t stand up to him. Something tells me the ring is not the only thing he was threatened with.
> Please enlighten us mortals, how exactly is the idea stupid.
(groan) A self-apparent truth shouldn’t need spelling out, but let’s look at your stupid idea anyrate:
>> Our Government should get out of Pakistan and let India deal with it.
Why is this a stupid idea? Let us count the ways:
1) Pakistan is an ally of the US in the WOT and its current government is hanging on by a thread
2) America does not need any more enemies in the Muslim world: you have more than plenty already, and certainly more than you are able to deal with in a timely fashion
3) Pakistan is nuclear-capable and would not mind test-driving its nukes. India would love to respond in kind. Nuclear war would be the certain outcome of a clash between the two, and most people believe that would be highly undesirable. I do
4) India attacking Pakistan would not solve the particular problem outlined in the story
5) If the Pakistan / India tensions were as easy as “letting India deal with it” they would have been resolved years ago, long before Americans looked at their atlas and discovered Pakistan (that’s the country to the upper-left of India, the funny-shaped one to the right of Afghanistan)
6) You’ll never catch Bin Laden or any other of the al Qaeda bad-heads hiding out in Pakistan if America withdraws support for the current government. Truth is, six years on and you’re having enough trouble catching him anyrate, even with the help of the NZ SAS
The list could go on and on and on as to why it’s a stupid idea. I think six reasons are sufficient.
*DieHard*
Are you further implying that the Muslims who performed these criminal acts were justified because of the outwardly identifying religious practices of the Sikh boy?
If it were a Roman Catholic boy who was wearing a crucifix, or an Observant Jewish boy who was wearing a kippa or any Christian boy/girl displaying any symbol of their faith, it would be OK to assault them?
The stated circumstances of this putrid offense, appears to be a blatant hate crime, wherein the victim was targeted based on religous grounds with a clearly stated purpose to intimidate and press the superiority of one religion over another. To be clear Islam is certainly NOT superior to the religion practiced by the Sikhs or any other religion, and may not be nearly as civilized as many it seeks to subjugate.
Out of school I entered an occupation that changed all the rules, shifted the balance of power and to this date has allowed me never be a victim again.
Once about fifteen years ago I looked up one of the premier predators that used me as a lunchtime ATM, and found that he had been shot dead in a candy store holdup sometime in the late 50's which at most could have netted him under fifty bucks.
That news brought a huge smile to my face and a little song in my heart.
I’m glad that your dead you asshole, you.
It was clearly a hate crime, based upon Religion and perpetrated by a member of a religious death cult that is world-famous for hate crimes — otherwise known as Jihads. No question about it.
Militant Islam is a hate cult and a disgrace to the rest of Islam.
Goes without saying the muslims are trash. But all must assimilate. Find a more subtle way to express your religion.
Are you saying that individuals should find a “more subtle” way to express their religion”, i.e., NOT wearing a turban, or growing their hair, or growing a beard, or wearing a kippa, or wearing a crucifix, or the “fish sign”, or tzit tzit, or covering their hair, or any other means of adhering to one’s religion and requirements imposed on adherents by said religions?
Does that include the hiding or secreting of shops that cater to Halal or Kosher foods or specific religio/ethnic shops?
Would that include shops that cater to people from Great Britain? And shops that cater to French or German delicacies?
Are they OK because they are only ethnic or nationalist rather than religious? And what of skin tone? And of names? And what of accent?
And use of language? (out and at home as well?) You suggest a "subtlety" for expression of religious belief. I suggest that your suggestion is patently foolish and flies in the face of facts and is stunningly insulting to persons who hold their religious beliefs important and dear and smacks of the know nothing idiocy that a Richard Newson would try to peddle in order to remove religion from the face of the United States. Of course, as I said, I'm a bit off today and may have totally misread your meaning in this matter. Nobody has a good day everyday. If I have misread and am responding too harshly please forgive me.
Oh ok duh....
(I will indulge you and let you pretend you are super intelligent.)
“1) Pakistan is an ally of the US in the WOT “
Thats the first and the biggest misconception and for you.....its a sure give away that you have no idea or knowledge about Pakistan.
“2) America does not need any more enemies in the Muslim world: you have more than plenty already, and certainly more than you are able to deal with in a timely fashion”
If you have enemies, you have enemies. You can choose your friends, not enemies. Closing your eyes and and pretending that the Pakees are your friend wont make actually make them your friend.
“3) Pakistan is nuclear-capable and would not mind test-driving its nukes. India would love to respond in kind. Nuclear war would be the certain outcome of a clash between the two, and most people believe that would be highly undesirable. I do”
If they actually get hell bent on using the nukes you think America treating them like friendly allies will help stop them?
“4) India attacking Pakistan would not solve the particular problem outlined in the story”
On the contrary it actually would, if only America had any sense to realise that.
“5) If the Pakistan / India tensions were as easy as “letting India deal with it” they would have been resolved years ago,”
How so? When was the last time India was allowed to take care of Pakistan without America intervening to save Pakistan’s ass?
“long before Americans looked at their atlas and discovered Pakistan “
America “discovered” Pakistan and been handling them ever since the 60s. Rather America should have been able to solve the Pakistani problem by now....... if only their big idea was actually meant to work.
“long before Americans looked at their atlas and discovered Pakistan “
Spare me the geography lesson kid, I am originally Indian and been across 3 different continents. The Kiwis too have a funny shape.
” Truth is, six years on and you’re having enough trouble catching him anyrate, even with the help of the NZ SAS”
Had not been for the Pakistani government and ISI doing their best to hide OBL, I would say 6 years on and still couldn’t catch him........the NZ SAS cant catch a chicken. What you actually need to do is withdraw support for the Paki government if you want to catch him.
I bet you are “rooting” for Pak. You would know what I am talking about if you are a real Kiwi ;)
“The list could go on and on and on as to why it’s a stupid idea. I think six reasons are sufficient.”
You could have enlightened him a little more gently, you know. Could be he’s just not as informed as you are.
I’m afraid I have to raise the BS flag on you, FRiend. This is America. You want to find a more subtle way to express your religion, go right on ahead. You have absolutely no right to tell anyone else that they must. No less than George Washington assured America’s Jews that they, too were citizens, and had every right to practice their religion here.
DieHard:
The government of Pakistan is very shaky and not always friendly. Most of the people of Pakistan have hated us all along. After the September 11 attacks in the USA, Pakistanis rioted in anti-American protests. Christians and Hindus are often tortured and murdered there after demands that they convert to Islam. Pakistan gets much of her military hardware—including missiles—from China. Pakistan will most likely be one of the major troublemakers around the Pacific Rim. It’s only a matter of time and events. Moderation of its radical religious mindset will be highly unlikely.
As for working on the wrong side in the area, We’ve had US diplomats and military advisers in Pakistan for generations—too long. We were mistaken to follow advice from certain western Europeans on the matter.
As for friends around the Pacific Rim, we have plenty. India is one of them, and Indians are doing good work in Afghanistan (for one). Other Indians have volunteered to serve as US soldiers in Iraq and other places. Some have been killed in action. Hindu culture can be far more amenable to Christian culture than Islamo-fascism. Indeed, the two may have branched from one culture in the very distant past.
As for resources (the greatest concern of western Europe—one being oil), those will appear from surprising sources soon enough. There will be sources other than Islamist and other fascist/communist regimes.
I, too, was outnumbered and out sized. Sounds like you had less respectable foes than I did. I fought mine to a stand-still, and made them respect me. Or else. My neighbors were mostly Hispanic, or Anglo, like myself. I didn’t meet black people socially until after I enlisted in the USAF, most of a decade after your service in the military ended.
I can, however, understand your response to finding out about the one thug. I’ve met some folks who would have affected me the same way.
Also, DieHard, India now dwarfs the old Empire in power, common sense and morality. We leave the things of yesterdays empires in the past. Cultures that follow the tenet, pride goes before destruction, have risen. India is one of those cultures. It was also an ancient Hebrew proverb and has been part of our US culture (until recently, may we realize it again).
He was Sikh before they got there...
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