CAIR-Philadelphia voices its support for the Asian students attacked on a SEPTA train by other students — including one who was visibly Muslim.
In conversations with its AAPI partners, CAIR-Philadelphia emphasized:
“Regardless of the background of the incident, the students who used physical and discursive violence against others are in the wrong. CAIR-Philadelphia stands unequivocally against violence, irrespective of the faith or ethnicity of the victim or perpetrator.
The mother of one of the suspects described her daughter as a 12-year-old who had run away from home and said: ‘We are embarrassed, ashamed. It’s not who we represent … As you can clearly see in the video, my daughter is Muslim. We do not carry ourselves that way. We carry ourselves with respect, modesty and humility.’
CAIR-Philadelphia will work with our allies to ensure that this incident brings more attention to structural factors fueling anti-Asian violence that target our diverse Asian American communities and immigrants, including our Muslim AAPI communities.”
