The New York Times‘ Fernanda Santos wrote today about the ongoing attacks by a group of UA students against the Islamic Center of Tucson.
Santos begins her story with a Syrian refugee who, when leaving the mosque after Friday Prayer, had two cans of beer thrown toward her.
On another night at the mosque, Ahmed Meiloud, a Ph.D. candidate from Mauritania who is also the Islamic Center’s president, was leaving the building when someone yelled from a passing car, “Terrorist, go back to where you came from!”
It’s embarrassing and sad to read a distorted depiction of Tucson, a place that’s so welcoming and open-minded, based on some of the ignorant residents attending the university—who are likely not even natives to the Old Pueblo. They remind me of the snow birds who temporarily move to Tucson a few months out of the year and do nothing but taint this beautiful desert with anger.
And, of course, it is people like myself who feel the most embarrassed about this type of national coverage of Tucson. Because, if you ask these kids, well, they don’t give a damn. A world does not exist outside their boundaries made of tailgates, college sports and booty shorts.
Santos writes:
The diverse congregation of the Islamic Center—a squat copper-domed complex just outside the University of Arizona’s sprawling campus here—has endured mocking, taunts and attacks of vandalism ever since hundreds of students moved into a pair of private high-rise apartment towers next door three years ago. In at least one instance, a shower of crushed peanuts rained down on the mosque; more typically, cans and bottles are flung from apartment balconies, usually on the popular party nights of Friday and Saturday.
“Yes, there are students, usually drunken students, but these attacks aren’t random,” Mr. Meiloud said. “We are the target.”
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2016.
They are not students because they are intelligent they are there to obtain knowledge and hopefully become intelligent. It is the citizenry’s responsibility to assist them in this journey. Tolerance equals acceptance. Protect the image of the Old Pueblo by standing up against this type of bigotry.
Speaking of bigotry: “the snow birds who temporarily move to Tucson a few months out of the year and do nothing but taint this beautiful desert with anger.” You seem to have a thing against people who aren’t native Tucsonans.
Like it or not, “The Old Pueblo” is far from the universally welcoming & open-minded place you imagine, nor would it be if all of the non-natives magically disappeared. The Times article is a reflection of what is happening in this city now, today, not a distortion.
mboston, I agree with you sentiment but for one thing: obtaining knowledge does not make one intelligent. If you aren’t intelligent to begin with, no amount of knowledge will help you. These clods who are harassing the Islamic Center do not strike me as a group of intelligent people.
If this had been properly addressed the first time it happened there would be no story about it now. Taking two years before any REAL action was taken is proof positive that this behavior was being condoned by the city, the police, the landlord, and the U of A.
Those godawful, ugly towers should never have been built in the first place.
Tucson open minded and accepting?
Not if you’re conservative and white. And if you’re Christian, you’re damned.
In Tucson, if you ain’t brown or not deep in white guilt, you’re not down.
I’m a snowbird from Washington State and I’m just wondering what Maria thinks I’m angry about? I love Tucson, the culture, the people and of course the weather. So what does Maria think I’m so angry about? Could it be we have a hypocrite writer who is unable to see and understand her own prejudices? Wake up Maria!
Oh, I guess I am angry about something – the tower residents tossing garbage and epithets at others does make me angry about their stupidity. But then I would hope that isn’t because I’m a snowbird!
RedVine15 – You won’t wake up Maria or the most of the liberals that have taken over Tucson. They are blatant bigots and you are not welcome here.
You see, you’re a snowbird, therefore you are probably white and have money. That means you are angry and racist. You are exactly what the population of Tucson has been indoctrinated to, whether from TUSD or the illegal sympathizers that ‘lead’ Tucson, to be the criminal invaders of this land that rightly belongs to the Grijalva’s.
Without the University, without the snowbirds, we’d be just another town with a military base and likely not the welcoming open minded community we are. The New York Times article is accurate, knuckleheads kids are throwing dangerous crap down on a religious group. It’s a Tucson problem and it must be solved. Insulting snowbirds, who bring in culture, money, and jobs for locals is not helpful. Too bad the author tainted the story with their own prejudice.
I know many snowbirds who do great volunteer work in and around Tucson and contribute significantly to the culture and texture of the community. The author of the essay seems as quick to judge people as the perpetrators of bigotry near the mosque. I think Tucson is generally a laid back and welcoming city. The problem of bigotry is not only a Tucson problem but a major problem in our country. It seems that there has been significant regression of civil rights and tolerance across the US. Perhaps incidents such as 9/11, mass gun violence, police brutality, and mean spirited politicians and news talking heads that promote a culture of fear has contributed to our current state. Tucson’s culture is a microcosm of the country…a culture of immigrants whether from snow country, Mexico, Poland, or Syria. We have politics on the left and the right, and generally we live together in a beautiful place. It takes work to learn about and accept other cultures, and typically I expect better writing from the Range and Tucson Weekly, particularly regarding issues of cultural tolerance.
Dear Old Pueblo Veteran,
You chose to volunteer for your service, thank you. You were not drafted or mandated to serve. The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution “prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting …”
Simply said, anyone may exercise their right to practice ANY religion they choose in this country. They may also choose to practice or not believe in any religion. To tell a religious believer to take their religion elsewhere than these united states, is unpatriotic as well as unconstitutional. If the students were “crusaders” against Christianity, would they still be your heroes?
There are many, many comments on this post being reported for racist and threatening language. We’ll continue to remove the comments that violate our terms (http://bit.ly/1LtJQ7B) as the reports come in. If we continue to see comments that don’t meet our standards, we’ll shut down commenting on this article.
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You may well have to, but is this article correct?
The mosque is considered to be ‘basically the first cell of Al Qaeda in the United States.’
That appears to be the bigger story here. What is going on?
Sometimes the “rat” and “what again” post amusing delusional rants and they always expose their antediluvian stale “ideas” as the bankrupt ravings they are…
However, the disgusting, racist, bigoted, irrational bile spewed by “what again” onto this thread caused me to think, “What, Again?”
Sometimes boys, it’s best to keep your fingers silent. As Lincoln remarked, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
I was thinking they might be the same person. You just convinced me otherwise.
Echoing previous sentiments… wow, seriously? So in the same article you are bemoaning people who are not inclusive of others, while saying that only native Tucsonans have the best interest of the city at heart? You’re not even a native Tucsonan! Without the university and snowbirds this city would be nothing. A city grows and betters itself with more people from different backgrounds (similar to a country), not by building walls to make sure it’s only “native” Tucsonans. Get a grip.
Bring back the draft. Some of these so called Students need to get adult …fast!
This city does not know what it wants to be. It suffers from something like gender confusion but it’s the old, “I want a job, or, I want to sit on the corner with a sign.
God bless the winter visitors. They too are over taxed and under served. Usually with less voting rights than illegals.
Sadly, I think there is more than one Rat trolling these pages. I only clicked to measure the number of racist rants with false threads compared to rational thinkers. Seems like rational people usually lose here, which tends to support the theory that Tucson is not welcoming of diversity or freethinking citizens, be they native born or immigrant. It does give me hope that some of the trolls are sensitive to the feelings of immigrants from at least some other places…
TIC as “first cell of al-Qaeda”: The “Clarion Project” is a right-wing, avowedly anti-Islamic organization. I’d take their pronouncements with a spoonful of Ipecac (forget the salt).
Gonzo S.: Like, like, a thousand times like!
I’m sure there are plenty of liberal “snowbirds”. I know there are plenty of intolerant native Tucsonans.
Cascabel – I’ve actually found myself visiting the Weekly (online) less and less due to the fact that like 3 people ALWAYS make any comments section a cesspool of lies and misery. Kind of hoping TW would consider not having on-line comments at all.
Yes by all means let’s limit speech that we disagree with.
Free speech is the cornerstone of the original America. Read and celebrate it, or don’t. But don’t give my privileges away.
TW would have every right to do it, and as you say, commenting here is a privilege (i.e. not a right). I see a large difference between speech I disagree with and actual lies and slander, which I see quite of in these comments.
The kind of publicity that the University of Arizona would probably rather not have… maybe they should be involved in solving the problem – evicting the offenders from the residencies, how about expulsion of the little darlings from the University?
If the same people were throwing empty beer bottles from the top of a parking garage at the Tucson Mall or Park Mall onto passing pedestrians or motorists, you can bet they would be arrested and charged without questioning the ethnicity or religion of the victims. Why is this case any different?
most of these comments make no sense,
I like how they say Tucson in the story but the fact of the matter is its about Uof A isn’t it. What percentage of those students are actually from Tucson?
These students are patriots for making invaders feel unwelcome. Because they aren’t.
I see the suppression has begun, no wrongthink allowed.
Remove kebab
“Right wing fuckwits” let’s see how long this stays up, regardless of the reports.
No different than Twitter and Facebook.
Wake up people.
But I like kebab. Shawarma too.
Maybe some real reporting would help us put this into context;
These buildings have 4 sides each. Is garbage and debris being thrown out of apartments on the other 3 sides? Talk to the neighboring businesses and property owners and find out.
If so, this is a case of immature kids being jackasses.
However, if the Mosque is the only property having this happen, then it would be reasonable to think that there is some misguided and discriminatory behavior occurring and that would compel the University to get involved.
If this is happening on all sides of the building it sounds like a management and police issue.
Without proper information and reporting, you are all just arguing about your preexisting prejudices and seeing what you want to see.
Well said.