The perplexing circumstances surrounding the brutal murder of a young mother, Shaima Alawadi, has had the Muslim American community abuzz recently. As her daughter purportedly found Alawadi\u2019s body with a note stating, \u201cgo back to your country, you terrorist,\u201d many rushed to label the incident as a \u2018hate crime,\u2019 even attempting to demonstrate a link between her death and that of Trayvon Martin, the 17 year old shot by neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman. <\/p>\n
Those attempting to link both cases claim both deaths were the result of racial or religious bigotry and point to the historical \u201cculture of fear\u201d surrounding African American men in this country that may have impacted Zimmerman\u2019s attitudes and actions towards Martin. Since we also have a developing culture of fear surrounding Middle Eastern American and Muslim men it seems logical to these commentators to assume that Alawadi\u2019s death was the result of someone else\u2019s bigoted attitude towards Muslims. <\/p>\n