Police do not suspect hate crime, though timing is suspicious
Community members rallied around the Islamic Center on Monday, a day after a brick was tossed through a window, breaking five panes of the thick glass and damaging some of the wooden framework.
Though police do not believe the vandalism was a hate crime, the timing is suspect, coming on the heels of Saturday's "Not in Our Town" forum, which addresses the causes and effects of bias, discrimination and hate in the community.
Glass still littered the floor of the prayer room where the brick was thrown through a window at the center, 900 Peterson St., sometime between 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
No one was in the building at the time. "There's no indication" the vandalism was a hate crime, said Fort Collins Sgt. Mike Walker.
In a hate crime, Walker said, there is a message left in addition to the damage. In the incident at the Islamic Center, no message was left.
On Monday, community members and church leaders gathered at the center in a show of solidarity. "It is imperative we stand together," said Rabbi Zvi Ish-Shalom of Congregation Har Shalom in Fort Collins. "If a brick is thrown at the Islamic Center, it's the same as if a brick were thrown at the synagogue."
In addition to coming the day after the Not in Our Town kickoff, the incident came the day after the center hosted a gathering for Sheik Yusuf Estes, who on Thursday gave a talk at Colorado State University titled "Terrorism, Islam and the West."
"I find the timing troubling, whether it was a hate crime or not," said Phil Koster, a Not in Our Town organizer and member of the Hate Incident Response Team. "It could be to see how serious we are or how prepared we are as a community to deal with incidents such as this. This kind of behavior is not welcome. This is not allowed in our town."
Belgasem Belgasem, president of the Islamic Center, said he was grateful for the show of support from the community.
"We are not alone," he said. "We have to stand up as one body to protect the innocent. This should be the duty of every wise man and wise woman in this town."
This is the third such incident since 1999, and Belgasem said there is some fear that the incident broke what he characterized as an uneasy peace.
"These small things sometimes turn into bigger things," he said. "But it gives us an indication that we'll never be secure."
Yusuf Siddiqui, a CSU professor who has lived in Fort Collins since 1964, said he thinks the incident was motivated by hate, and he feels threatened by it.
"We're not a large group," he said. "We depend on the good will of the majority. Everyone knows this is an Islamic Center."
Community support is crucial following this type of incident, Siddiqui said.
"If they think they can get away with it, they will do it again and again," he said.
There are people in Fort Collins, though, who want to work to make sure everyone feels secure in the community.
Lorrie Wolfe knows what it's like to feel targeted because of religion.
About 20 years ago, Wolfe said she attended a talk given at a local church by a white supremacist. Wolfe, who is Jewish, said she felt she was being targeted.
"I didn't know if my car was going to be broken in to in the parking lot," she said. "I didn't know if I was going to find a burning cross in my yard one night. I remember what it's like to be made to feel frightened or vulnerable by someone promoting hate. I'm not comfortable with anyone making my neighbors feel that way."
Wolfe sought support from the Interfaith Alliance, and the outpouring of support helped her, she said, and that's something she wants to bring to the Muslim community.
"That feeling of solidarity was very healing, exciting," she said. "It's one the things that's marvelous about Fort Collins."
Published April 19, 2005, Coloradoan
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050419/NEWS01/504190340/1002
