Newark Muslim ‘Ridiculed And Assaulted’ At Job Center In Hate Crime: Mayor

NEWARK, NJ — A New Jersey state employee at a Newark job development center allegedly snatched the hijab off a Muslim woman’s head and threw it to the floor in an “act against the Islamic faith” earlier this month, city officials say.

The office of Mayor Ras Baraka issued a statement about the alleged act of hate on Tuesday, calling it an “attack on [the victim] as a woman.”

According to city officials, a white male employee at the Newark One Stop Center on Broad Street allegedly “ridiculed and assaulted” the black female Muslim – a Newark municipal employee – when he grabbed her hijab, a veil traditionally worn in the presence of adult males outside of a woman’s immediate family, and threw it on the floor on Dec. 5.

Newark police officers immediately arrested the employee and banned him from returning to the career center, city officials said.

The One Stop Center at 990 Broad Street once administered many of the city’s job development programs until officials began to move operations to another facility at 1008 Broad Street following complaints about allegedly poor treatment at the center.

A spokesperson with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development told Patch that the accused employee has been suspended without pay.

"Upon learning of this incident, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development took immediate action, suspending this employee without pay, cooperating with authorities, and pursuing termination in accordance with employee disciplinary procedures," the DOL spokesperson stated.

However, Baraka said Tuesday that the worker should have been terminated from state employment immediately in addition to being banned from the site.

“He should have been charged by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office for a hate crime,” Baraka opined.

Baraka issued a call for federal prosecutors to look into the alleged incident.

"In the present climate of violence against Muslims across America and around the world, hate crimes must be recognized for what they are and they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “The climate of anti-Muslim violence that has exploded in recent weeks is leaving tragedy, pain and division in its wake. I am joining Newark's Muslim and the entire caring community in calling for United States Attorney Paul Fishman to investigate the incident and to charge the perpetrator with a hate crime. It is imperative that the Department of Justice stand with the people of Newark and make it clear that hate crimes will be met with swift and certain prosecution. All of Newark's residents must know that they are safe at all times, regardless of their religion, color, gender or class."

• See related article: Is The Garden State Getting More Islamophobic?
• See related article: New Jersey’s Ibtihaj Muhammad Makes Olympic History: 1st To Wear Hijab

The hate crime allegations in Newark come less than a week after the New York Police Department announced that an 18-year-old Muslim teen allegedly faked her claim that she was assaulted on the subway by a pack of young men yelling pro-Trump epithets.

• See related article: Muslim Teen Faked Story of NYC Subway Attack by White Trump Supporters, Police Say

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