JANM Condemns Anti-Muslim Hate Crime in Illinois

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) condemns the recent anti-Muslim hate crime in Plainfield, Illinois. Six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, were stabbed multiple times by their landlord, killing Wadea and seriously injuring Hanaan. When the landlord expressed that he was angry at her for what was happening in Israel and she responded by saying “let’s pray for peace,” he attacked her and her son with a military-style knife. The hate crime was motivated by the landlord’s anti-Muslim bias and his anger about the Israel-Hamas war. He was charged with three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and two counts of committing a hate crime. 

“We are deeply saddened by this hateful act and by the rise of anti-Muslim and antisemitic rhetoric that has erupted in the US in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East. We grieve for the loss of life in the conflict and for the life of this child who was so brutally murdered. When fear and insecurity bind together, they create a dangerous poison that can inflict grave harm on individuals, heaping ongoing trauma onto communities, and etching deep wounds into humanity that fuels hate speech and violence. Hate crimes are not acceptable under any circumstances. We stand with our friends in communities across the country whose families are affected by this conflict, particularly with our friends in the Jewish American, Palestinian American, and Muslim American communities,” said Ann Burroughs, President and CEO of JANM.

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