The Mantle Of Excuses

Turns out I was right about the driver who ran amok through downtown San Francisco yesterday. He was, indeed, from Afghanistan and had just returned from there after being married. Relatives of the man have already come forward and said he was disturbed, just a nice guy, etc., etc., etc. Exactly the same thing you hear all the time, no matter what the crime or criminal. Nothing odd there.

And officials are completely cutting off any consideration of this as a hate crime or even uttering the word "terror" in any context. By immediately, publicly and forcefully ruling out "hate" crime (a term I frankly detest for a number of reasons) and by reflexively rejecting any discussion of terrorism, authorities are effectively blocking off at least one avenue of investigation. That, sadly, is also not at all odd these days if the suspect has a Muslim name.

The Bookworm did a long round of updates that captured a lot of the news as it was breaking. You can see the pattern develop. The perpetrator  was experiencing jitters over his recent marriage. He was mentally ill. He was on medication. He had dreams of the devil, it's road rage, blah, blah, blah. But the last update has this:

UPDATE IX: I just watched local coverage. Apparently several witnesses reported that Popal referred to himself as a “terrorist.” The police quickly denied this. Either the police are trying to hide something (why?) or the witnesses are succumbing to mass hysteria.

There are also the automatic 'we're worried about what this means for Afghans' words sprouting in the linked news story. The perpetrator's ethnic/religious group as victim, or potential victim, is also sadly not at all unusual. You know what? I hope this does turn out to be a lunatic with delusions. At the same time, I would like our government officials, law enforcement and media to stop instantly throwing a mantle of protection over any consideration that it might be something else.

Would that same mantle be thrown over someone who purposely drove into a crowd at say a gay pride parade? How about a Presbyterian, white male who drove through a crowd of Asians? Pick any ethnic or racial or social group and start substituting one for the perpetrator and another for the victim. Imagine which groups get an automatic protection and which do not. Then ask yourself why.

Could we please stop the knee jerk protection if a Muslim is involved in anything. Let people know the facts, don't close off any avenue of investigation preemptively and let people know what is going on truthfully. If it turns out to be related to terrorism in any way, an immediate and forceful renunciation by the community that the perpetrator is part of would do more to defuse any possible backlash than reflexively trying to hide behind victim status. 

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » “Because He Just Wanted To.” — Wednesday, 30 August , 2006 @ 7:35 am