Pardon my language, but this is straight fucked up. Less than a week after anti-Islam DVDs were distributed by mail and in newspapers all across the Midwest, in Ohio a “chemical irritant” was sprayed through a window of the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, where 300 people were gathered for a Ramadan prayer service. More succinctly, it was sprayed into the nursery where the babies and children were kept while their parents prayed.
“She told me that the gas was sprayed into the room where the babies and children were being kept while their mothers prayed together their Ramadan prayers. Panicked mothers ran for their babies, crying for their children so they could flee from the gas that was burning their eyes and throats and lungs. She grabbed her youngest in her arms and grabbed the hand of her other daughter, moving with the others to exit the building and the irritating substance there.
“The paramedic said the young one was in shock, and gave her oxygen to help her breathe. The child couldn’t stop sobbing.”
The local paper reports that police have uncovered “no evidence of a hate crime” because no words were exchanged between the attacker and the victim, and whatever gas was sprayed dissipated too quickly to show up on preliminary chemical tests conducted by the police.
I know hypotheticals are presumptive and annoying, but I’d comfortably venture to say that if this happened in the nursery of a Midwestern Episcopal church during Easter, the story would occupy a large corner of all national news coverage for weeks.
Where’s the fucking outrage?
(H/T, H/T)
UPDATE: Cara posted a more comprehensive look at this story at The Curvature.