The face of hate (updated)

Glenn Greenwald points out the virulent anti-Muslim hate growing in this country, and shows us a video from a protest last month in Orange County, CA where vicious comments were hurled at the Muslim community attending a charity event. Some of the remarks came from a sitting Congressman. Greenwald writes,

I think what was most striking about that video is that the presence of small children didn't give these anti-Muslim protesters even momentary pause; they just continued screeching their ugly invective while staring at 4-year-olds walking with their parents. People like that are so overflowing with hatred and resentments that the place where their humanity -- their soul -- is supposed to be has been drowned.

Look familiar? Make no mistake: we've seen it before, in different guises.







Should this vile speech be blocked? No! But it's important that we see it, that we know who engages in it (a sitting Congressman????!!!!) and we react accordingly. Only if we know about it can we counter the ignorance, fear, bigotry, and hatred that it represents.

UpdateIt continues: two elderly Sikhs shot in Elk Grove CA.

Police said Saturday that they don't know why someone gunned down two men – frail from heart attacks and advancing years – as they slowly ambled through a quiet Elk Grove neighborhood during their daily afternoon walk.

Surinder Singh, 67, died Friday afternoon on the sidewalk along East Stockton Boulevard near Geneva Pointe Drive. Gurmej Atwal, his 78-year-old friend, was shot twice in the chest. His family said he was in critical but stable condition.

In a statement released late Saturday, Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner called on witnesses to come forward and said, "We have no evidence to indicate there was a hate or bias motivation for this crime; however, the obvious Sikh appearance of the men, including the traditional Dastar headwear and lack of any other apparent motive, increasingly raise that possibility.