Local organizer and activist Nadia Rahman wrote about a recent anti-Arab hate incident she experienced in front of City Hall on her way to speak to the Board of Supervisors about the rise in anti-Arab hate in San Francisco.

In some recent Instagram posts, local Palestinian Pakistani American organizer and activist Nadia Rahman shared details about a hate incident she experienced on the steps of City Hall, in which an older woman insulted her keffiyeh, calling it “trash” and telling her to "go back to your country." Rahman had been on her way to speak during public comment at the Board of Supervisors meeting in support of a resolution recognizing Arab American Heritage Month and to emphasize the sharp rise in anti-Arab hate fueled by the U.S.-funded Israeli genocide in Gaza.

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A post shared by Nadia Rahman 駱雯 (@nadiarahmansf)

She immediately reported the hate incident to the Mayor’s office, her district Supervisor Connie Chan, CAIR, AROC, the California Civil Rights Department, and the City Hall Sheriff’s department. In an email to Supervisor Chan and Mayor Lurie's administration, Rahman called for stronger public support for San Francisco’s Arab community, emphasizing that this wasn’t an isolated event.

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A post shared by Nadia Rahman 駱雯 (@nadiarahmansf)

Rahman shared other recent examples of hate incidents reported by Palestinian American residents, including harassment for displaying Palestinian flags and wearing cultural symbols:

Two days ago, a district 8 resident reached out to me to share a series of hate incidents that happened to her due to her Palestinian American identity and Palestinian flag hanging outside her home and asked for advice on where to go and what to do.”

One month ago, a district 1 resident reached out to me to share that she and her partner experienced a hate incident at a Jack in the Box here in the district because her partner was wearing a keffiyeh.

Rahman is now calling on San Francisco’s leaders to publicly and explicitly condemn both anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. She emphasized that public support is critical for the Arab American community, especially as many feel invisible and abandoned amid escalating violence at home and abroad.

My ask to these public officials since this hate incident occurred is to publicly condemn both 1) anti-Arab racism and 2) anti-Palestinian racism in San Francisco. Name it and condemn it explicitly. The community needs a public condemnation of these forms of hate to feel seen, and to be called in to report these incidents.

Public officials base their policymaking on data and a majority of hate incidents and crimes against Arab and Muslim people go unreported. They will not take action unless we force them to; the data helps immensely in that regard.

Image pulled from Instagram video

A newly released book, Left in the Hands of Fate, tells the story of a 1959 incident involving Magid Bateh, the 12-year-old Arab immigrant who the author says was wrongfully accused of burning down Jefferson Elementary School in the Sunset District, which was predominantly Irish at the time. The book, co-authored by Bateh’s niece Raine Bajalia-Evans, details the prevailing impact the incident had on Bateh up until his death in 2017.

Newspaper reports from the time claimed that Bateh started the fire while trying to burn his spelling test because he received a bad grade. Decades later, the incident continues to cast a shadow over Bateh‘s legacy, as the story gets periodically retold in online groups such as the popular San Francisco Remembered group on Facebook.

Despite being unfairly targeted by police, Bateh was friendly with local law enforcement throughout his life. This 2005 tribute to local mounted police officer Owen Kenny noted Bateh’s attendance at his funeral and how the pair’s lifelong friendship formed when Kenny helped Bateh after a fall from a skateboard at Golden Gate Park at age eight.

Based on the Left in the Hands of Fate's glowing reviews, Bajalia-Evans presents a compelling case for her uncle’s innocence while challenging readers to witness the profound loss of his youth.

Remember when most of you lost your minds over whether or not it's OK for hipsters to sport Kaffiyehs. (The conclusion: it's fine to wear them, but they tend to overpower an outfit as an accessory.)

Well, scenesters, get ready to put down the straw, wipe your nostrils, and head over to Crossroads to sell your black-and-white Kaffiyehs. Sausage-fingered Food Network star, Rachael Ray love them. And she just had her Dunkin' Donuts ad yanked after several hundred or so mentally-estranged Americans complained after seeing her wearing the Arab headdress while hawking delicious Dunkin' Donuts pastries.

Michelle Malkin, mind-numbingly dumb FOX news commenter/hole, went nuts over Ray's scarf, saying, "the keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." Or, as SFist already pointed out, it is/was a fashion trend.

This is too bad. Dunkin' Donuts are second to none.