WASHINGTON, DC — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today urged the Arab-American community to fully cooperate with the investigation in the horrifying attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. ADC President Ziad Asali said “we strongly urge Arab Americans to fully cooperate with the investigation into these terrible crimes. While we remain mindful and vigilant of the civil rights of all Americans, we firmly believe that every effort should be made to assist investigators and that the community should exercise patience in this time of crisis. We are confident that Arab Americans will do everything in their power to help bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.”
ADC has been closely monitoring the wave of hate crimes against Arab Americans, American Muslims and Americans of South Asian descent in recent days and has documented well over 200 incidents thus far. At least two murders have been clearly related to this hate crime wave, however the attacks appear to be spontaneous, sporadic and isolated.
ADC continues to urge all Arab Americans to exercise caution, use their common sense, be aware of and alert to those around them and to report any suspicious behavior or threats to local police and ADC’s national office.
ADC President Ziad Asali welcomed the widespread expressions of support from the American public at large for the Arab-American and Muslim communities, saying “we are most grateful to President Bush, Attorney General Ashcroft, Mayor Giuliani and other political figures, as well as the House and Senate, for their leadership in denouncing attacks on Arab Americans and Muslims. We also note the strong expressions of support from many prominent journalists and commentators, some of whom do not always agree with us on policy issues. I want to especially thank the thousands of our fellow Americans, including a huge number of Jewish Americans, who have reached out to the Arab-American community in recent days with messages of compassion and reassurance. These messages far outweigh the number of hateful and threatening communications we have received. And finally I want to thank police forces across the country for providing protection to Arab American and Muslim persons and institutions, including ADC.”