Muslim civil rights and advocacy group reiterates call for federal charges after local grand jury indicts suspect for aggravated assault without hate crime enhancement
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called for the Justice Department to file hate crime charges against the suspect who screamed racial slurs at and attacked a group of young Palestinian-American Muslims after a pro-Palestinian protest near UT Austin last fall, stabbing one of them.
Earlier this year, the Austin Police Department (APD) stated: “[W]e believe the February 4, 2024 incident to be bias-motivated and will be reviewed by the Hate Crimes Review Committee.” CAIR welcomed that statement and called for a federal probe of the attack.
But yesterday, a Texas grand jury charged Bert Baker, 36, with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but “did not make a hate crime finding.”
In a statement, CAIR said:
“Although we welcome the formal indictment of Bert Baker, the charges should have included a hate crime enhancement. If shouting racial slurs at a group of Palestinian-Americans and ripping the Palestinian flagpole off their car before stabbing one of them is not a hate crime, then nothing is a hate crime. We encourage federal law enforcement to investigate this attack and consider hate crime charges.”
CAIR-Texas: Man accused of stabbing attack in West Campus won’t be charged with hate crime
CAIR-Texas: Man indicted, but not charged with hate crime, in stabbing of Palestinian supporter – Austin American-Statesman
A recent CAIR report, “Fatal: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate,” documents 8,061 complaints to CAIR offices nationwide, marking the highest number of complaints CAIR has recorded in its 30-year history. Nearly half of all complaints received in 2023 were reported in the final three months of the year.
BACKGROUNDER:
On Feb. 4 around 7 p.m., four young Muslim Americans who had just attended a protest in support of Palestinian human rights were driving home when a white male riding a bicycle, later identified as Bert James Baker, allegedly attempted to rip a flagpole with a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf reading ‘Free Palestine’ off of their car.
According to the victims, Baker repeatedly screamed the n-word and other obscenities, opened the passenger door, pulled one of the victims out of the car and physically attacked him. The three others in the car say they then exited the car and fought off Baker. After Baker appeared to be subdued, he allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the young men in the chest, breaking one of his ribs.
The stabbing victim again subdued Baker, who was arrested after police arrived on the scene. The father of the stabbing victim reports that he has undergone a successful surgery and is recovering at the hospital.
END
CONTACT: CAIR-Dallas Director Mustafa Carroll, 1-832-549-1042; muspeaks@gmail.com; CAIR-Austin Board Chair Fayyaz Shah, 1-214-597-0690, fshah@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com