Shaima Alawadi this weekend finally died as a consequence of vicious injuries she sustained recently. The question on everyone’s lips now is why and who did this to her….?
It all began this past Wednesday when Shaima Alawadi‘s 17 year old daughter, Fatima Al Himidi came across her badly beaten 32 year old mother in the family home. She had been beaten repeatedly with tire iron. Next to her unconscious mother lay a threatening note that read ‘go back to your country, you terrorist.’
At the time the mother of 5 was rushed to hospital but the family’s worse fears were realized when Shaima Alawadi fatally succumbed to her injuries this weekend.
What though makes this all the more damning is the fact that the family has said to have found a similarly written note earlier this month outside the family home but had dismissed it as a child’s prank.
Addressing a camera that had come to interview the family, Fatima “You took my mother away from me. You took my best friend away from me. Why? Why did you do it?”
At present a family friend, Sura Alzaidy, reiterated to a local newspaper that the attack apparently occurred after the father took the younger children to school. Alzaidy also went on to tell the newspaper that the family is from Iraq, and that Alawadi was a “respectful modest muhajiba,” meaning she wears the traditional hijab, a head scarf.
What is known to date is that the family had only recently moved to the family home in San Diego County, having been there only for a few weeks, having moved from Michigan. According to Alzaidy, the deceased mother’s father and her husband had previously worked together in San Diego as private contractors for the U.S. Army, serving as cultural advisers to train soldiers who were going to be deployed to the Middle East.
It is also known that the family has lived in the US since the mid 1990’s.
Offered Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations: “Our community does face a lot of discriminatory, hate incidents and don’t always report them. They should take these threats seriously and definitely call local law enforcement.”
Ultimately one is left to wonder how we arrived at such a state that a suburban woman wearing nothing more menacing than a head scarf can become such a loaded and toxic metaphor to some random stranger who has interpreted her faith, her dominion and her way of life for all the images buzzing from their tv room and into their head that bitterly conflict with their sense of self…?
“FINALLY DIED”? Maybe choose your words a little better in the future?