U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is assuring Muslims of her support, threatening action against any “anti-Muslim rhetoric” that “edges toward violence.”
Lynch, speaking at a dinner held by the Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy group, announced Thursday night the Justice Department will investigate the police department in Texas that arrested a 14-year-old Muslim boy who brought a device that looked like a bomb to school. Ahmed “Clock Boy” Mohamed was never charged, but several congressmen asked Lynch for the civil-rights investigation she promised Thursday.
Her comments came just a day after the massacre in San Bernardino, California, where a Muslim man and his wife accumulated an estimated $30,000 in weapons and bombs, then launched an attack on a Christmas party for employees of the county where the man worked.
Syed Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, shot and killed 14 people and wounded another 21. Their motives remain uncertain, but multiple reports have suggested the two were radicalized during visits to Saudi Arabia.
Fox News reported it’s possible that Malik, the mother of a 6-month-old, radicalized her husband, according to Fox News.
Unnamed federal investigators said the two also planned a second attack before they were killed by police.
Lynch did not speak directly of the San Bernardino shootings at the event, but said there had been a “very disturbing rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric” across America since the Paris shootings three weeks ago, reported the Los Angeles Times.
“When we are ruled by fear, we are not making ourselves safe,” Lynch said.
She specifically criticized proposals in Congress to block Syrian refugees from the U.S.
“This is not the way,” she said, and people were “simply rushing to judgment.”
Assuring the pro-Muslim group that “we stand with you,” Lynch said she would use her Justice Department to protect Muslims from “violence” and discrimination and vowed to prosecute anyone guilty of what she described as violence-inspiring speech.
“The fear that you have just mentioned is in fact my greatest fear as a prosecutor, as someone who is sworn to the protection of all of the American people, which is that the rhetoric will be accompanied by acts of violence,” she said. “My message to not just the Muslim community but to the entire American community is: we cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on.”
She warned that the U.S. Constitution does not protect “actions predicated on violent talk.”
The report quoted her saying: “When we talk about the First Amendment we [must] make it clear that actions predicated on violent talk are not American. They are not who we are, they are not what we do, and they will be prosecuted.”
Noted the Daily Wire, “It is painfully clear that, like her predecessor Eric Holder, Lynch is far more concerned with promoting the social justice agenda than protecting the constitutional rights of American citizens. What exactly is speech that ‘edges toward violence’? What exactly are ‘actions predicated on violent talk’? In the end, it is whatever she decides it to mean.”
Meanwhile, a report from NBC in Dallas confirmed Lynch is investigating the Irving Police Department for the arrest of Mohamed.
School officials were suspicious because it was a series of electronic components installed in a briefcase that looked like a bomb.
Now Lynch is on the case.
“We have, as you may know, opened an investigation into the case of the young man in Irving,” she said. “So we will see where that investigation goes.”
WND reported the boy and his family demanded $15 million from the school district, threatening a lawsuit. The demand is for $10 million from the city and $5 million from school district over the Sept. 14 “suitcase clock” incident at MacArthur High School.
Lawyers for the family, which now lives in Qatar, say the teenager has “suffered severe psychological trauma” because of the experience. He was allegedly targeted by officials “because of his race, national origin, and religion.”
Mohamed battled through his alleged “severe psychological trauma” after the school suspension by going on a one-month world tour that included:
- Meeting with President Obama on the South Lawn of the White House at the astronomy event.
- An appearance with Dr. Oz.
- Meeting with Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide.
- Meeting with Turkey Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
- A visit to Mecca as an honored guest of Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
ISD spokeswoman Lesley Weaver said the school has proof its actions were justified, but juvenile records cannot be released without written consent by parents.
https://www.wnd.com/2015/12/ag-lynch-vows-to-prosecute-anti-muslim-speech/