New York man charged with hate crime against Muslim woman
June 16 (UPI) -- A New York man has been charged with a hate crime after he allegedly hurled a can of beans at a Muslim woman on a subway train platform amid rising antiarabism and Islamophobia amid Israel's war on Gaza.
Andre Johnson, 36, was walking behind the 22-year-old woman as she entered a subway station on the Upper East Side of Manhattan around 6 p.m. on April 4, the NYPD said in a news release.
Unprovoked, he threw a can of beans at her and made anti-ethnic remarks before fleeing by train. He was arrested Friday and charged with aggravated harassment in the second degree, harassment in the second degree and theft of services.
However, the New York Daily News has reported that Johnson's charges after his arraignment Friday included attempted assault in the third degree as a hate crime.
As for the woman, a police spokesperson said in an emailed news release that "the victim was not struck by the can and was not injured." But the can hit the ceiling and exploded, covering her in beans.
Johnson has also been charged with assault in the second degree for shoving an elderly woman to the ground in February, bruising her right hip and causing her substantial pain.
Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday called on law enforcement in Texas to investigate after a man shared a photograph of himself urinating on the marquee sign for a mosque in the city of Tyler.
"We urge law enforcement authorities to investigate this apparently bias-motivated vandalism and to take appropriate action against the alleged perpetrator," said CAIR-TX executive director Mustafaa Carroll. "No house of worship, of any faith, should be targeted by hate."
The advocacy group released data earlier this year that showed in the first three months of Israel's war that it had received 3,578 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate, an increase of 178%.
"In the face of relentless hate and bogus smears, American Muslims, Arabs and a broad coalition of Jewish, Christian, African American, Asian Americans, and others continue calling for justice for Palestine," Corey Saylor, director of research and advocacy for CAIR, said in a statement earlier this year. "This coalition knows the way to stop the hate is to end the apartheid, occupation, and genocide occurring in Palestine."
