Money and prestige are important things for people. In this case, the money is so important that they were willing to target, manipulate, damage and finally discard a child when they don't have a use for him anymore. While this wouldn't be acceptable in most civilized nations it was acceptable in this situation. There are a few things that can happen here and I hope as a society we can overcome this challenge.
There has been a problem brewing for some time. An embezzlement and fraud issue that was in the back of my head but I never truly grasped that people would do such things so I bypassed it. When I saw my child being targeted for manipulation to spread rumors I became more aware of the wider purpose and intention.
Its hard to protect your children in an environment where a larger social group views you as an outsider. Even worse, when members of the group refer to your children as "nigga babies" and have indicated on multiple cases they don't want Muslims near them or in their community it takes on a new form.
In most reasonable situations people who don't know much about the targets and don't know the situation would stay out of the issue. However, in this situation they were more than willing to engage in intentional rumor spreading and intimidation tactics.
What really set them off was when I began to inquire as to why they were acting this way and why my child is involved. The answer I received was because you and family are "Muslim". I then demanded that my child be taken out of harms way and that is a non-negotiable line.
Did they do that? No....they got their group together and as I frequented activities in the town their friends and associates began to harass, snub their nose, and do other coordinated intimidation tactics that resulted in a number of other dangerous situations.
There are a couple of problems with this. 1.) My family is Muslim and I am more of a Muslim-Catholic so they know nothing of me or them. 2.) Their behavior appeared to create ethnic cleansing activities bent on encouraging violence and intimidation.
Now I could be silent and say nothing. However, I'm just not built that way and bad behavior needs to be held to account. We can't just pretend it didn't happen or that they somehow are given preferential treatment under the law. We are not talking about a mistake but a coordinated effort to harass, intimidate, and exploit children for the financial an ethnic needs of the group.
I'm the type who will face those who hate me simply because I refuse to bend to criminal intent. Yet, I'm also the type who knows there is a bigger purpose in it all and I will be very active in the community (I'm not easy to intimidate). They will know my presence and my presence will be peaceful and but forceful (I doubt such hate groups will stay silent if they see me and my children acting freely in what they deem as "their" community".)
My goal is to be as honest and open about this to see if we can find a better policy in Michigan that protects communities from extremism and criminal behaviors. The earlier we addressed the mental health issues in our communities the better we will be able to tag and derail certain extremist behaviors. Crime Reform and Coding
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