The bane of Islam. Again.
A suburban Chicagowoman has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly yanking the headscarf of a Muslim woman in Tinley Park two days after the shootings atFort Hood, Texas.
Valerie Kenney, 54, a bank teller from Tinley Park, appeared at the BridgeviewCourthouse today and was released on $5,000 bail. If convicted of thefelony, Kenney faces up to 3 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. She isdue back in court Dec. 3.
“I think (a charge of hate crime) sends the appropriate message thatthese kinds of race-based lash-outs are unacceptable,” said AhmedRehab, executive director of the Chicagochapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Every timesomething like (the Fort Hood shootings) happens, the Muslim communityprepares for a backlash.”
Amal Abusumayah, 28, told police she was shopping at a Tinley Parkgrocery store Nov. 7 when a middle-age woman passed her in the aisleand made a loud reference to the killings at Fort Hood.
“She said, ‘The man that did that shooting in Texas was from theMiddle East,’ in a really loud and angry voice,” Abusumayah told theTribune last week. Minutes later, while Abusumayah was paying for hergroceries at a self-checkout, the woman approached her from behind andtugged hard on her blue and beige head scarf, she said.
“I turned around and looked at her, and she walked out of thestore,” she said. “My scarf didn’t come off because it was on verytight, but my head was tugged back.”