From the NYT:

Nabra Hassanen and the Lost Innocence of Ramadan IHOP Nights

By SAHAR HABIB GHAZI JUNE 24, 2017

I can’t recall a Ramadan in America during my teens and 20s when I didn’t meet my Muslims friends at IHOP at 3 a.m. …

Lots of Muslims get fat during the Ramadan fast month because of the unhealthy behavior it encourages, like binge eating at IHOP at 3 am.

According to the police, Darwin Martinez Torres had a dispute with one of the teenagers whom Ms. Hassanen was walking with on their way back from suhoor at IHOP around 4 a.m. Mr. Torres then followed the group, first in his car and then on foot, striking Ms. Hassanen with a metal baseball bat and taking her with him when he left the scene. An hour later, he was arrested. The young woman’s lifeless body was found in a nearby pond. …

But whether her killer’s actions are officially characterized as “road rage” or ever described as a “hate crime” won’t change the fact that Muslim spaces — the religious ones and the ones we’ve created — are increasingly under attack. And visibly Muslim women, especially Muslim women of color, are the most vulnerable.

Here’s the most popular comment on this op-ed from an NYT reader:

I’m going to lay the blame at the feet of our cruel, narcissistic president. He started this: his campaign launched on a barrage of demagoguery against Mexicans, and later amped up to the “Muslim Ban.”

After his election, the Times started tracking weekly Hate Crimes, which I’d dutifully read because I felt they weren’t getting the publicity they deserved. The rise of hate crimes against Muslims and anyone who resembled them–including Sikhs and other Indians–was noteworthy, as was the rise of anti-Semitism.

This young woman didn’t deserve to die any more than anyone does, particularly while observing a religious holiday. But somehow in the past 2 years, because of a candidate who exploited voters’ most vile instincts, it’s become permissible to spew venom, or even attack people based on their ethnicity and their religion.

Under Trump, we’re becoming a meaner, cruel, more selfish nation.

What goes unmentioned in this op-ed, even though this news article appeared four days ago in the NYT:

Man Charged With Killing Muslim Teenager Entered United States Illegally, Authorities Say

By MATTHEW HAAG JUNE 20, 2017

A 22-year-old man accused of killing a Muslim teenager with a baseball bat in Virginia on Sunday is an undocumented immigrant who entered the United States illegally, federal authorities said on Tuesday.

The man, Darwin Martinez Torres, who was charged with murder in the death of Nabra Hassanen, 17, is believed to be from El Salvador, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said.

Like I said, it’s Trump’s fault.

[Comment at Unz.com]