Iraqi Woman Killed in Calif. Hate Crime Compared to Trayvon Martin
An Iraqi woman who was found viciously beaten inside her Southern California home died on Saturday after being taken off life support. Her death has sparked outrage across the nation and is being compared to last month's shocking killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Shaima Alawadi, 32, was discovered lying in a pool of blood and unconscious on her dining room floor last Wednesday by her teenage daughter.
A threatening note was found near Alawadi's body, indicating that the mother of five who immigrated to the United States 20 years ago was the victim of a hate crime.
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"A week ago they left a letter saying this is our country, not yours, you terrorists," Alwadi's daughter told CNN. "My mom ignored that thinking (it was) kids playing around, pranking."
"The day they hit her they left it again and it said the same thing," she added.
Nothing was taken from the home, which family members argue suggests that Alwadi was the victim of a hate crime.
San Diego county police have not released the details from the note found in the home near Alwadi's body, but did indicate that the content was threatening. Officials were currently investigating the case to determine if Alawadi's death was indeed the result of a hate crime.
"The family, and the community, is concerned that there is a possibility that this was a hate crime. We've had some stuff in the past – insults mostly – but nothing physical," Hanif Mohebi, the executive director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on America-Islamic relations told the The Los Angeles Times of the incident.
"This is shocking to the community, the state, and even the country," Mohebi added.
Activists across the country have taken to social media networking site Twitter to express their outrage over the death and have compared it to last month's killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Martin was killed in a gated residential community in Sanford, Flal, on Feb. 26 during a confrontration with neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who shot the teen.
Martin was unarmed and wearing a hooded sweatshirt when he was killed.
The connection is being drawn between Martin's hooded sweatshirt and Alwadi's hijab – a symbol of her Islamic faith.
"Welcome to America, where you get killed for being suspicious for wearing a hoodie & a Hijab," Twitter user @Yemmeyummy tweeted.
"A teen was killed for wearing a hoodie an Iraqi woman beaten for wearing a hijab when will all this hatred stop, "@nermeeeena asked via Twitter.
"Hoodie or hijab – this needs to stop," @butheina wrote.
Others have blogged about the issue, drawing comparisons to hate crimes of the past and questioning why hatred and bigotry persist in the U.S.
"In the wake of the murders of Trayvon Martin, Shaima Alawadi and others like them, I recall Malcom X's words: we don't face a black problem, a religious problem, or even an American problem – it's a human problem," blogger Roya Aziz wrote on Dominion of New York.
