Massachusetts continues to wait for word on the investigation into the two bomb explosions that killed, injured and maimed spectators at the Boston Marathon finish line Monday.
Any minute, now.....
UPDATE: We know what they look like - not who they are and where they are from - but the FBI released photos and video. A couple photos, the video and links to more photos are below the squiggle.
The horrific crimes have some in the Muslim community fearful about how it might effect Muslims in the US.
I recently spoke with a close friend, a native of Pakistan who became a US citizen over 25 years ago. He remembers the way people looked at him after the attacks of 911 and the ugly encounters he had with intolerant people. He now has school-age children and worries about what will happen if the perpetrator of this horrible crime is a Muslim.
He is not alone. ABC news online:
The uncertainty around who perpetrated the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 has left many people anxious. But Muslim Americans await the identity of the perpetrator with particular dread.
"If a Muslim did this it will set the Muslim community back a decade," Khan said. "It will feed into the perception that Muslims are terrorists. Children are more likely to be bullied at school, individuals at work will be treated with suspicion by their coworkers."
Today's interfaith service, "Healing Our City An Interfaith Service" held included President Obama, Governor Patrick, Mayor Menino and religious leaders from Boston. (program
here)
Nasser S. Wedaddy, in blue, with other religious leaders at today's service
One of those religious leaders was Chair of the New England Interfaith Council and Civil Rights Outreach Director of the American Islamic Congress, Nasser S. Wedaddy.
Wedaddy recalled scripture that says, that whoever kills a soul it is as if he killed mankind entirely. And whoever saves a life, it as if he saved all of mankind.
"On Boylston Street on Monday afternoon, we saw souls murdered but also lives saved."
More on Wedaddy's portion of the service here.
According to the
Huffington Post, immediately after the bombing police were dispatched to stand guard at the Boston mosque while its leaders were busy looking for ways to help:
"We're Bostonians - we mourn with the city," said Suhaib Webb, the Oklahoma-born imam who leads the congregation. "We stand in support with the city, with the victims. We're hurt, equally shocked and equally pissed off."
The relationship that a Muslim community has with the city it inhabits can often be tested in the aftermath of acts of terror. But in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon attacks, the prevailing sentiment inside this mosque was of shared grief rather than instinctive distrust.
The mosque volunteered to city officials the services of the roughly 40 doctors who attend its religious services. The campus itself was volunteered to serve as a disaster relief center. And Webb, who was out of town when the attack took place, offered via Twitter his home to any marathon runner that needed shelter.
"This is Boston's mosque," Webb said.
Immediately after the bombings, police questioned a young man, a Saudi national. Photos show he was clearly injured and was running away. (So were many others!)
According to the
Daily Mail:
The Saudi student said he had been at dinner with friends the night before and was at the marathon simply because he 'wanted to see the end of the race'.
One of his two flat mates, who would only give his name as Mohamed Bada, told the MailOnline: 'He is a sweet kid, a kind person. He would not do this or hurt anyone.'
When it was reported that he was a Saudi student, the standard idiot-right-wing intolerance was on display all over the internet. Today he was the subject of a heated exchange in Washington that I don't even want to dignify with more than a mention.
In a Boston Globe column today, Yvonne Abraham writes about the concerns shared by some in the local Muslim community:
“What will happen to us if they arrest someone and that someone turns out to be a Muslim?” Imam Talal Eid, a chaplain at Brandeis University, said Wednesday.
He recalls the backlash that followed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He remembers being afraid to send his children to school for a few days afterward, and the way some began to view all Muslims with suspicion, even hostility. A few fringe-dwellers even spoke of internment camps like those that held Japanese-Americans during the Second World War.
The country has changed since 2001, Eid said. People know more about American Muslims now, are less afraid of them, less likely to make the many pay for the sins of the unhinged few. But we have a long way to go.
As I wrote the other day, Boston is a rainbow of international color partially due to the students who come here from all over the world. They are welcome, they are part of what makes our city so wonderful, and while they are here, they are Bostonians. Even if the perpetrator is from another country, we cannot hold everyone else from that country responsible - just as if he or they are from the US, we won't hold our own citizens responsible.
Tolerance. Peace. Healing.
We finally have images of two men the FBI say are suspects - as reported on the KOS's front page.
The images are traveling with light speed through social media. Lets hope by tomorrow we know who the hell they are these guys are, these are just a couple of photos.
Please visit the site linked below, even if you aren't from the area, you know never know....
FBI webpage w/more photos
video of two suspects:
To Provide Tips in the Investigation
If you have visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere, submit them on https://bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov/. No piece of information or detail is too small.
You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information.
All media inquiries should be directed to the FBI’s National Press Office at (202) 324-3691.
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