TWO INDIVIDUALS IN LONDON WERE THE VICTIMS OF A BRUTAL ACID
ATTACK.
THE INDIVIDUALS WERE OF MUSLIM DESCENT, AND THEY WERE
APPARENTLY CELEBRATING ONE OF THEIR BIRTHDAYS WHEN THIS
ATTACK TOOK PLACE.
RESHAM KAHN AND JAMEEL MUKHTAR SUFFERED SERIOUS BURNS
AFTER THEY WERE DOUSED IN ACID WHILE WAITING IN TRAFFIC.
TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE UNFORTUNATE IS THE FACT THAT THE
PERPETRATOR IS AT LARGE.
OFFICIALS HAVE NOT CAUGHT HIM YET.
HE IS A 24-YEAR-OLD BY THE NAME OF JOHN TOMLIN, AND HE HAS VERY
UNIQUE TATTOOS, SO HOPEFULLY HE DOES GET CAUGHT AT SOME POINT.
OKAY, THAT'S WHO THEY BELIEVE IT.
YES, ALLEGED FOR PARTICULAR.
AND SECONDLY, DO NOT APPROACH HIM BECAUSE HE MIGHT HAVE
ACID ON HIM, THE COPS ARE SAYING IF YOU SEE HIM MAKES YOU
CALL IT IN, DON'T TRY TO GO GET HIM YOURSELF OR GO ANYWHERE
NEAR HIM.
I'M ABOUT SO YOU GUYS PHOTOS OF THE VICTIMS THAT ARE
GRAPHIC, AND DIFFICULT TO VIEW, SO FOR THOSE OF YOU ARE
UNCOMFORTABLE LOOKING, LOOK AWAY AS WE CUT TO THOSE GRAPHICS,
BUT I WANT TO SAY THE DAMAGE THAT WAS DONE TO THESE VICTIMS.
THERE IS 21-YEAR-OLD RESHAM KHAN, WHO IS AN ASPIRING MODEL.
IT WAS HER BIRTHDAY THEY WERE CELEBRATE WHEN THEY GOT
ATTACKED, AND THEN HERE IS JAMEEL MUKHTAR.
OKAY, SO...
LET'S GIVE THE REST OF THE QUOTES HERE.
I'LL GIVE JAMEEL'S QUOTES, AND I WILL TALK YOU WHAT I THOUGHT
THIS STORY WAS ABOUT, AND THEN WHAT IT TURNED OUT TO BE ABOUT.
HE SAID, "HE JUST SQUIRTED THIS CLEAR LIQUID ALL OVER US,
WHICH I THOUGHT WAS WATER UNTIL MY COUSIN STARTED TO SCREAM.
I WAS WATCHING HER BURNING.
NEXT THING YOU KNOW, I'M BURNING.
I WENT TO THE HOSPITAL THEY HAD TO GET WASH ME TO GET THE
ACID OFF.
HE WAS ASSOCIATING PAIN.
I WAS SCREAMING LIKE A BABY."
HE GOT HIT IN THE LEGS, BODY AND FACE.
SHE GOT HIT SQUARE IN THE FACE WITH ACID.
SO, FIRST-DEGREE BURNS AND THEY HAD TO PUT HER IN A COMA,
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, DO THE OPERATIONS AND TRY TO HELP
HER AND THEN REVIVE HER.
SO, WHEN I FIRST SAW THE STORY OF RASHEM KHAN AND ANOTHER
MUSLIM ñ I THOUGHT IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS TWO MUSLIM
WOMEN, BUT IT TURNS OUT IT WAS ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN.
I THOUGHT THE STORY WAS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN, BECAUSE THEY
DO THAT ALL THE TIME, OH YOU ARE A WOMAN GOING TO SCHOOL?
WERE YOU ARE NOT WEARING YOUR HEADSCARF RIGHT, THEY WILL
DO AN ACID ATTACK.
GREAT, NOW FUNDAMENTALISTS HAVE MERGED TACTICS COMPLETELY.
SO, WHOEVER THIS FUNDAMENTALIST CLOWN WHO HATES MUSLIMS IS.
AND I KNOW, YOU HAVE TO DO THE STANDARD CAVEAT: IT COULD
BE TOTALLY RANDOM, HE'S WALKING AROUND WITH A BAT OF ACID,
DOESN'T CARE AND JUST HAPPENED TO THROW IT AT A MUSLIMS FACE.
COULD HAVE BEEN ANYONE, HE COULD HAVE BEEN TARGETING NORWEGIANS.
WELL, INITIALLY THE POLICE DID NOT TREAT THIS AS A HATE
CRIME BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU JUST SAID.
WE DON'T KNOW, WE DON'T KNOW THE DETAILS ABOUT THIS GUY, WE DON'T
KNOW WHAT HIS INTENTIONS WERE, BUT APPARENTLY, DUE TO NEW
EVIDENCE IN THIS CASE THEY ARE TREATING IT AS A HATE CRIME.
THE GUARDIAN REPORTS, "NEW EVIDENCE HAD COME TO LIGHT,
PROPPING THEM TO INVESTIGATE THE ASSAULT AS A HATE CRIME."
SO, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT EVIDENCE IS, THEY HAVEN'T
DISCLOSED WHAT THAT EVIDENCE IS, AND REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE
INTENTIONS WERE, THIS WAS SUCH A HIDEOUS ATTACK ON COMPLETELY
INNOCENT PEOPLE, AND I LITERALLY CAN'T READ THIS STORY, OR EVEN
REPORT ON IT WITHOUT GETTING ñ I KNOW I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO GET
EMOTIONAL, BUT I'M GETTING EMOTIONAL, BECAUSE WE ARE NOW IN
THIS EXTREMELY ñ IN THIS INSANELY TOXIC ENVIRONMENT,
PEOPLE ARE AFRAID FOR THEIR SAFETY.
THE RHETORIC PEOPLE USE IS DANGEROUS AND DAMAGING, AND THEN
YOU READ FROM RASHEM KHAN, THE 21-YEAR-OLD, AND I WANT TO
REVIEW HER QUOTE BECAUSE OF THE SINK WILL BE POWERFUL.
SHE SAYS, "AT A TIME WHEN ALL I AM BEING SENT IS POSITIVITY
AND LOVE, PLEASE DON'T LET THIS MAN ANGER YOU WERE
CATEGORIZE OTHERS.
REGARDLESS OF WHATEVER WAS GOING ON IN HIS AHEAD DURING THIS
CRUEL AND VICIOUS ATTACK, I REALLY DON'T WANT THIS TO
HELP FUEL A DIVISION AMONG PEOPLE.
FROM A LARGE MAJORITY, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A SICK AND
TWISTED MINORITY.
STOP TEARING EACH OTHER DOWN, STOP ARGUING RELIGION AND
POLITICS.
MAKE PEACE WITH EACH OTHER AND THE WORLD.
LETTING THIS MAN OR THE EVENTS OF THE PAST FILL YOU UP
WITH HATE WILL ONLY DARKEN THE SOUL."
SO, I THINK THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE ON OUR SIDE ñ
LEFT, PROGRESSIVE ñ WOULD NEVER MAKE THE INSANE ASSUMPTION THAT
THIS IS ALL WHITE PEOPLE.
THAT'S SO CRAZY, WHO COULD POSSIBLY BELIEVE THAT, RIGHT?
WERE ALL RIGHT-WINGERS; EVERY RIGHT-WINGER ñ
ALL YOUNG WHITE MEN, RIGHT, WITHDREW CATS.
BUT THE OTHER SIDE WILL NOT GRANT THAT, THEY WILL NOT
GRANT IT.
SO, HOW CLEAR IS IT THAT OUR ENEMY IS NOT A PARTICULAR RACE
OR RELIGION, IT IS FUNDAMENTALISTS.
FUNDAMENTALISTS OF ALL STRIPES, WHO BELIEVE THAT THE ANSWER IS
VIOLENCE, AND WHO LIKE TO CATEGORIZE OTHER PEOPLE, WITHOUT
KNOWING THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER AT ALL, BASED ON HOW
THEY LOOK.
THAT IS SO OBVIOUS; WHETHER IT'S A MUSLIM BUT ANALYST WHO SAYS,
YOU ARE NOT WEARING YOUR HEADSCARF RIGHT, OR YOU ARE TOO
SECULAR AND TO WESTERN AND I'M GOING TO ATTACK YOU, OR IT
IS A FUNDAMENTALIST IN THE RIGHT WHO SAYS YOU DON'T LOOK
RIGHT BECAUSE YOU ARE WEARING A HEADDRESS, OR A SCARF, OR
YOU ARE BROWN AND I THINK YOU ARE MUSLIM.
AND HALF THE TIME THEY WILL BE WRONG, AND ATTACK SOMEBODY
WHO IS SIKH, AND MURDER THEM.
THE OBVIOUS ANSWER IS, LET'S BE SMART AND TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHO
THE FUNDAMENTALISTS ARE THAT MY DUE VIOLENT ACTION, TO PROTECT
OUR CITIZENS, INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME CATEGORIZING BILLIONS OF
PEOPLE AT A TIME.