umkahlil

Faris Khader, Omar Awartani, and Osama Sabbah, three international students from Palestine, who were allegedly lynched by as many as fifteen members of Guilford College's Football team, five of whom are charged with ethnic intimidation and assault, have predictably been lynched again, mainly in comments sections of blogs and in the media; however, despite the lynch mob's second wave and the college administration's failure to at least suspend the assailants pending expulsion hearings, some clear reporting and comments are evident.

Luke McIntire, Greensboro blogger and media studies student, comments beautifully on the football players' parents' attempts to pin this on the eighteen year olds from Ramallah and Jerusalem, one of whom looked very slight on a Fox News' video:

"Not only does the story have legs, it's running its ass off. I really didn't expect the 'those three kids attacked the at least five and possibly 15 football players' defense. I'm interested to see how that plays out."

According to the student newspaper, The Guilforidan, "Bryan resident Peter Deng, a sophomore, said that the aggressors called the Palestinian students 'dirty terrorists' and 'sand n***ers.' 'A fight is a fight, but this was a jump,' said sophomore Dan Jimenez, who witnessed the altercation."

The Guilfordian also reported that brass knuckles were confiscated by a resident assistant on duty the night of the attack.

Joe Killan, who has extensively reported for Greensboro's News-Record commented on Greensboro journalist Ed Cone's Blog: "Those who have gone on record, both to us, Yes Weekly! and The Guilfordian, have described a group beating of Palestinian students and not the other way around. As far as I know no one who witnessed the attack and saw the Palestinian students either start it or do much of anything but be overpowered and beaten has gone on record with anyone." He also commented "The primary reason given to me by witnesses who won't go on the record is fear of retaliation."

One sophomore, Matt Hill Comer, at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, is not afraid to speak out about Michael Six, one of the accused, who was so earnestly defended by his mother on Fox News . Comer, a former classmate of Six's at R.J. Reynolds High School writes:

"course… I’m not really all that surprised that Michael Six was involved. Who knows… I learned a lot about not jumping to conclusions with the Duke case, but I do know this: Six was one of the WORST when it came to the harassment I got when we were in high school together. Although he never touched me, physically, his words toward me were enough to let me know that he didn’t like me and didn’t want me anywhere near him and that if I did come near him, I probably wouldn’t be safe.

"There’s one outstanding instance that stands out in my mind (right before I got my truck and was allowed to drive to school): I remember that he would stand in one spot after school everyday, a place I’d have to pass to get to the bus on time before they left the lot. He’d just stand there and when I’d pass spew out horrible obscenities and slurs. I asked him to stop numerous times; I eventually took it to Mr. Elrod, our principal. After that, Six never said anything to me again."

Would that Six had learned not to pick on vulnerable people. Comer is gay; Arwatani, Sabbah, and Khader, members of an ethnic group, not only oppressed, but vilified. North Carolina State's student newspaper, The Technician reports "Nusaybah Ismail, a freshman in sports management, said Awartani, who came from Palestine to study at N.C. State, spoke to her after the incident.'He was with his friends in a courtyard at Guilford,' Ismail said. '[Guilford] football players just came up to them and started beating them up, calling them names. According to Ismail, the football players yelled things like 'go back to your land.' 'It was just a hate crime,' she said."

A hate crime and and assault clearly put in focus by a comment on the Chronicle of Higher Education Blog:

"Assault is not a lesson to be learned in college. What’s with this approach that seems to be popular on college campuses now to treat assault, sexual assault, and rape as teachable moments instead of the criminal acts they really are. If it were a group of Palestinian students assaulting a few white students, you can bet that they would have been expelled already."

To get a clear picture for what contributes to some Americans' hateful attitudes toward Arabs, watch this short Jackie Salloum video, Planet of the Arabs, based on Jack Shaheen's book, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People.