(WASHINGTON D.C., 8/20/2021) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a 25-year prison sentence for a woman who intentionally hit Black and Latina children with her SUV in Iowa.
The woman was sentenced yesterday, four months after pleading guilty to two charges of attempted murder.
On December 9, 2019, the woman struck a 12-year-old boy with her SUV in Des Moines, Iowa. Half an hour later, she struck a 14-year-old girl with the vehicle in Clive, Iowa. She was arrested at a gas station later that evening after police received reports that she was stealing items. She also allegedly used slurs targeting Middle Eastern people against an employee and customers.
The woman said she targeted the boy, who is Black, because she believed he was Middle Eastern and a member of the terrorist group ISIS. She said she targeted the girl “because she was Mexican.”
The woman’s state public defender said she was schizophrenic and had been influenced by far-right media. He said she was not taking her medication at the time of the attack out of fear it would affect her pregnancy and was instead self-medicating with methamphetamine, marijuana, and alcohol. The state public defender also explained that while the woman was mentally ill, she was not clinically insane.
SEE: Des Moines Woman Who Attacked Children with SUV gets 25 years in Prison
“These horrific hate attacks on children show the dangers racist and white supremacist messaging poses to society, especially to minority communities,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “We welcome this sentence and urge law enforcement authorities nationwide to take all bias-motivated crimes seriously and to apply appropriate charges and punishment.”
He noted that in 2019, CAIR called for a hate crime charge against Franklin, citing what it said is a rise in hate crimes against Latinos across the country since Donald Trump was elected president.
SEE: CAIR Calls for Hate Crime Charges After Iowa Girl Run Down in Racist Attack
Hooper said the American Muslim community and CAIR stand in solidarity with all those challenging anti-Black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry.
SEE: CAIR-Cleveland Calls on Law Enforcement to Probe Possible Bias Motive for Vandalism at Alliance YWCA
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CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com