The California Association of Human Relations Organizations(CAHRO) is shocked and dismayed by the
terrible catastrophe that shook America on Tuesday. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the victims, their friends, families and all who live in the United States who will be impacted in the years to come.
We ask
that people be cautious as to how they react to this event. Media agencies and politicians need to act responsibly to prevent the further victimization of innocent people and refrain from making blanketed
statements blaming Arabs and Muslims in general in reporting the events as they unfold. They should rightfully attribute blame to those who committed the crime and not whole ethnic and religious communities.
"Those who attacked this nation did so on their own volition and it is they who should be held to answer. It is no more justifiable to single out a segment of the population that lives in America as bearing
responsibility for this set of attacks than it would have been to single out the European-American population in the aftermath of the disaster that struck Oklahoma City," said Fred Persily, executive director of CAHRO.
The terrorist attacks are triggering people to act irrationally in their outrage and placing people who are of similar background to the perpetrators in danger of hate motivated violence. It is our hope that as we
work through our grief and anger towards healing, we also assure that no more innocent lives are lost as a result.
We are calling on human relations commissions in cities and counties to work with existing
anti-hate violence networks, police, schools, and community groups to ensure every effort is undertaken to avoid scapegoating any segment of the community for the acts of those who are responsible for the attacks on our
nation. To get a list of these human relations commissions and anti-hate violence networks in California, you can go to www.cahro.org or you can contact your local government office.
