Hate Will Never Win at Massachusetts Iraqi Restaurant
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In the middle of the night, a rock was thrown through the window of Babylon, an Iraqi restaurant in Lowell, Massachusetts.
On January 11th, the entire restaurant was filled to capacity by veterans. Patrick Scanlon, a Vietnam veteran and coordinator of Veterans for Peace, who organized the show of support, is less than convinced this was not a hate crime. He spoke on camera about how Babylon is the embodiment of the American dream; a local business, creating jobs for other Iraqis.
On a day when the media is overwhelmed with blogs, videos and statements about soldiers who urinated on corpses, it’s Pat Scanlon and the Veterans for Peace we need to remember. It’s an eat in at a small Iraqi restaurant in Lowell, Massachusetts that we should be talking about and commenting on. We should be watching the video of Mr. Scanlon, and Farouq Ali, an Iraqi immigrant whose wife works at Babylon, and listen to the hope and the respect and the love. This is America at its best.
Thanks to Towelrod for information in this article, and for the video.
Update: We received the following letter to the editor just a few moments ago and felt it important to share with our readers:
There are circumstances to the incident at Babylon, Lowell Ma. It’s not a hate crime. The individual is mentally ill and in treatment. They were off their medication for a while when that incident took place. The owner needs to know this, and now the people reading these articles need to know this. Just know I’m an inside source and this is the truth.
The mentally disabled people are systematically being trampled on and treated with contempt in this case. When some ones (sic) reality is severely altered they’re (sic) actions are misconstrued. A mentally ill person can commit crimes but an evaluation is obviously in order here. Evaluate the system, as well as this incident. Have I made my point? Thank you for reading this.
ED: We have not yet been able to confirm this information.
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I don’t believe this is a hate crime. This is vandalism. I applaud what these citizens are doing but they should do it at EVERY restaurant that has been vandalized. The very concept of “hate crimes” rubs me the wrong way. It is only fair to treat every victim the same. My car was damaged and I am white. Was that a hate crime? This is about breaking the law and not race. Thank you.
I wasn’t there, I don’t know. I made a typo and meant “person”. So don’t go running off with that one. Further more, I’m not gonna be baited or antagonized into anymore logistics of the situation. I will say that 20lbs is probably an overestimated zealous statement.( not that I really know its weight or even what the projectile was. ) I’ve made know the circumstances, at least to the people who read this. Go and let your preverbal imaginations do the rest. I cant stop it. Thank you.
This crime is NOT A Hate Crime! It was a mentally ill individual whom is being treated. Everyone leaving comment is misinformed. The writers of all these articles on the subject are MISINFORMED. I implore you all to reserve judgement till you hear the real story. Till then this is just vandalism. Not a hate crime.
Jeff,
You will note that I never stated I believed this to be a hate crime, and neither did Pat Scanlon. What Mr. Scanlon said was that he was having a hard time believing it wasn’t a hate crime, but he made no definitive statement either way. Neither myself, the other writers or the publisher of MMA are responsible for the comments on a page. If in fact this was the act of a mentally ill person, I certainly hope he or she gets the help they need. Thank you. EMN
My question, however, given the title of the article is this: There must be hundreds of windows in Lowell. Why, if this had nothing to do with the fact that Babylon is a restaurant owned and staffed by Iraqis, did the perpetrator choose Babylon’s window? It seems an odd choice for someone Jeff states did not harbor any ill will toward the Iraqis who own and operate Babylon.
What if it happened to some other bar? Irish or what have you. Would it still be a hate crime? I assume remain silent or anonymous but to see people lead astray no matter how gullible or misinformed stirs up some rage in me. As the Title says Hate Will Never Win at Massachusetts Iraqi Restaurant, it implies “hate crime”. None the less The mentally disabled people are systematically being discriminated and treated with contempt in this case.
When some ones reality is severely altered they’re actions are misconstrued by the public. A mentally ill person can commit crimes but an evaluation is obviously in order here. Evaluate the system, as well as this incident. So what, out of a bunch of windows he threw toward one which had more repercussion than vandalism. I cant answer why that window was chosen, I doubt they will say why if there is a why. Bottom line They are getting the help they need as we type. It just seems people get a bit of news and run in the directions they think or want to with it. I see it all the time. Manipulated pictures, comments, and actions. They were not in this reality when this happened. I ask for a reserved judgement thats all.My family has gone through enough with this illness.
And you know this to be a fact because…? Why did someone, mentally ill or not, pick this particular restaurant to vandalize? What about it Mr. Inside Information?
Because I know the persons involved. It’s not a matter of a particular window. It’s a matter of poor decision making by a person who sees this world not as we do. You need to under stand that there are people out there that speak to people who are not there, or smell things that are not there. People who sincerely believe they have been places or met people that are not real and are not even real. I have to live with this and insert reality to them only to have it rejected because they truly think you are lying to them. Paranoia, smells, false memories and illusional reality is what this crime involves. Its not hate. Try to understand this condition is very real and the Babylon was just a part of a manic episode. Pass it on please, because it’s becoming a news now and is really blown out of proportion. The Lowell Police now know and I hope this is cleared up soon. I will be speaking with the owner soon. Hope to clear it up and make some leeway on this incidence. DO any of you understand?
There was more than one person? (You say “persons” which implies more than one vandal.) The rock weighed 20 pounds, according to reports. That’s a big rock to throw through a “random” window. The person or persons who did this would have had to lug that rock around, or did they park in front of the Babylon restaurant, throw the rock, and leave? If this were a manic episode, as you state, there would have been more vandalism; other windows broken, maybe trash cans thrown about, maybe graffiti. But one 20 pound rock thrown through the window of an Iraqi restaurant does not seem manic, it seems planned.
Good for those vets, my dad has been a part of things like this for years, except he’s in Tennessee and not Massachusetts. We all should forget the hatred and racism that plagues this world and try to at least treat everyone with a little bit of respect until they prove that you cannot otherwise.
Congratulations. This is what happens when bozos believe that there are special kind of “hate” crimes. No one knows who did it, but blame racism anyway.
Why should Americans hate Iraqis It should be the other way around. We invaded their country, killed 100,000 or so of their citizens to “liberate” them, and now we don’t like them. What would we do for someone we really liked?
Give them blankets laced with smallpox? Oh, been there, done that. I’ll need a few minutes to come up with something original.