Austin, Texas, one of the few progressive centers in the southern US state, has recently experienced a clear pattern of attacks on Muslims in the past two months.
Austin, Texas, one of the few progressive centers in the southern US state, has recently experienced a clear pattern of attacks on Muslims in the past two months.
Since early August, the North Austin Muslim Community Center (NAMCC) has been vandalized three times. The vandals slashed the tires of vehicles in the parking lot, smashed the glass doors and windows of the mosque, and urinated on one of the damaged vehicles. Because the vandals made no attempt to steal from the mosque, and the urination was clearly meant as an insult, the mosque and the Austin community are treating the attacks as a hate crime.
Not long after, in the early morning of Sept. 17, an attacker shattered the entry doors of the New Madina Market. The New Madina Market is a grocery store that serves Halal meat and food products from across the Middle East. Currently, these attacks are believed to be related and likely perpetrated by the same person, a white or Latino male who appeared on security camera footage at the time of the attacks.
Hate crimes are on the rise nationally and the Muslim community in Austin often becomes a target for white supremacist violence.
