Muslims in Oakland Don't See Eye to Eye

Back in November, Jake posted this about a group of young, well-dressed African-American men who trashed an Oakland liquor store while security cameras recorded it all.

Yesterday came this AP article about it all.

They weren't your ordinary thugs. Dressed in bow ties and dark suits, nearly a dozen men carrying metal pipes entered a corner store, shattered refrigerator cases and smashed bottles of liquor, wine and beer, terrifying the clerk but stealing nothing.

The (sic) just wanted to leave a message: Stop selling alcohol to fellow Muslims.

---SNIP---

But the recent attack at San Pablo Liquor — and an identical vandalism spree at another West Oakland store later that evening, along with an arson fire there and the kidnapping of the owner a few days later — have injected religion into the debate.

The two episodes highlighted tensions — and different interpretations of the Quran — between black Muslims in this struggling, crime-ridden city of 400,000 and Middle Eastern shop owners, many of them also Muslims.

Now, I'm in total agreement with these guys about one thing: a multitude of liquor stores in neighborhoods like this are only exacerbating the multitude of problems. It's just common sense. I live in Chicago and, believe me, I don't have to go very far from my apartment to see this phenomenon myself.

But trashing stores? Burning stores? Kidnapping owners? Can they really think that this is either a valid or effective methodology for addressing the problem?

And let's talk a little about the whole religion thing. Believing something fervently does not give someone the right to trample on the rights of others. I believe that abortion is wrong, but I'm not out there trashing abortion clinics or Planned Parenthood offices.

Find the right way to address the problems you see in your neighborhood, guys. Hell, I'll stand with you. But this is America, and our constitution recognizes that we have some fundamental rights that need to be protected -- like the right to choose and interpret your own religion.

You don't just get to terrorize people into following your religion.

As seen @
The conservative cat Adam's blog Bloggin' outloud Don Surber NIF Third world county Jo's cafe basil's blog bright & early

Oakland
Muslim
California