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New York woman who pepper-sprayed Muslim Uber driver indicted for hate crime (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

79 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, shown on video assaulting Shohel Mahmud after he began reciting prayer in Arabic

A New York woman who pepper-sprayed a Muslim Uber driver while he was praying has been indicted by the Manhattan district attorney on hate crime charges.

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, is shown in a surveillance video repeatedly pepper-spraying her Uber driver, Shohel Mahmud. The assault took place in August on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, near the corner of east 65th Street and Lexington Avenue, shortly after Mahmud began reciting a prayer in Arabic.

…

Guilbeault’s former employer, the public relations and marketing firm D Pagan Communications, wrote on X it is aware of her actions and “don’t condone this behavior”.

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[–] [email protected] 115 points 7 months ago

I'm glad she's been indicted for a hate crime, but will Uber compensate the driver in any way? Of course not. He's not an employee!

And if you click through to the surveillance video article, you see this:

Mahmud acknowledged the ordeal has hurt him financially, as he is the breadwinner of his family who currently lives in Bangladesh.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 7 months ago (2 children)

How do you live in New York City, and still be this overtly racist?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago

There's plenty of racist people in NYC just like there is anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

Because it takes multiple generations to get rid of racism, and her lineage hasn't caught up.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Good decision.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

Why is it called "hate" crime

Edit: im not sure what warning i should add to make it clear my question was an actual question instead of "an attempt to derail the debate" or whatever people said. Jesus fk people are reactive

[–] [email protected] 61 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Because it is an attack on somebody for belonging to a group rather than something about themselves specifically.

https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/learn-about-hate-crimes#hatecrime

[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago

Hate crimes, by definition, are not an attack only against an individual, but cause deliberate harm to an entire community.

The crime is different, so they're treated differently, of course. We also have different degrees of murder depending on the person's motivation.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It’s treated differently because it is a different predictor of violence. I’m not a violent person (but, like most people, I could be brought to assault a person under the right circumstances), so as long as someone’s not terrorizing me or someone else, I probably won’t get violent. That’s not a big risk, but if all it took for me to get violent was someone exercising a different religion in front of me, I’d be a much bigger societal risk.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Why are yall downvoting a question? Fr there’s no indication this was asked in bad faith. Are yall just morons?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (4 children)

There are people asking questions and there are people "asking questions" in an attempt to derail debate.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Honest question: what is up for debate regarding the case? I think all the facts are clear, no?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's correct, which is where my comments comes from. They aren't curious about the definition of a hate crime, they are trying to insert doubt while feigning ignorance.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, sort of borderline "begs the question" here... A good indicator of sincerity in asking would be if OP of that question stuck around and actually engaged and thanked people that gave good answers - AFAIK they have not.

So again, borderline.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Sometimes I'll ask a sincere question worded in a way that I didn't realize implied anything, and get downvoted to hell. If anybody answers I'll upvote, but I rarely want to stick around to explain why I don't kick puppies or whatever.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This story reminds me a lot of a cornerstore Deli in the ghetto side of (capital city of southern state).

It is run by a Bengali dude with two Arab cooks and an African American local. The name is likely ripped from a famous NY sandwich shop, but no one actually knows that.

The Arabs make most of the sandwiches and the African American specializes in salads.

You'll usually find the two Arabs reciting out loud while they cook, everyone seems to know everyone, and the Bengali is running the cash register and rejecting phony bills.

The outside looks like a crackhouse warzone but the inside is an oasis lol. Always busy with people buying food or cornerstore items.

Objectively the best place in the city to get a philly sub, but you'll never see anyone mention it outside of the ghetto area.

Point being that if someone asked me what defines America, I'd probably point to that place.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

that sounds amazing.

i just watched the first season of a show called The Bear, crazy stressful Back of House restaurant environment, slaps on to my personal experience pretty well.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Imagine being so fearful that someone praying in another language triggers you to pepper spray them. What is wrong with people?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

I can't imagine what it feels like for a Uber driver. Riders are literally behind you, sitting in the back seat. There was a tiktok video of a psychopath jokingly pointing a gun at her driver.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (4 children)

The entire religion, xtians too, is a sociopathic physical, mental, and social abusive of all women. She was right to freak the fuck out. They tend to do a little more than prey.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (4 children)

What the fuck is wrong with you? This guy wasn't hurting anybody by praying, and you don't know anything about his other beliefs. Not every Muslim or Christian is a hateful, bigoted maniac. Most were raised in their respective religions from birth and don't know any different.

This kind of "all religious people are monsters" thinking screams "angsty teenager from r/atheism" and you should rethink your position. Be better.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not worth trying to reason with someone from .ml.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

She was obviously just protecting herself from a terrorist. /s

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Did he just randomly start chanting and she freaked out? Why didn't the just start praying during a fare?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Praying is not chanting. Somehow I doubt a Catholic saying a hail Mary would have ellicited the same response. It appears the DA agrees.

As to what happened, he was driving the car with the two passengers in the back seat. The driver and passengers were not talking to each other, or otherwise interacting. Video linked in the article shows her suddenly lunging towards him and spraying him in the face with pepper spray at point blank range.

Her friend tries to pull her off of him. He then tries to get out of the car, while she keeps spraying him, where he calls 911 and she's arrested.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Wait... your description doesn't include any praying either. Did he pray or not? It just looks like an attack.

It would make me uncomfortable if someone just started audibly praying while driving me though. Given the tone I might even take it as a threat on my life, if I felt like it was some "last rights" or "give me strength" shit that made me feel like they were about to off themselves with me in the car.

The solution would absolutely not be to pepper spray the driver though. That can only make my fears a reality.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (20 children)

Given the tone I might even take it as a threat on my life

That is an unhinged and deranged level of xenophobia.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Someone speaks foreign language

“Gasp! My life in in danger. I have been personally threatened.”

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Making shit up online is fun. Strawman arguments don't convince anyone of anything though just makes you look like a tool.

Islam is the 2nd largest religion on Earth. It's not some piddly minority. When people are being weird Muslims it's okay to call them out the same way there are hella weird Christians and Jews. I would say NOT doing so and handling a particular groups weirdos with kids gloves is just as xenophobic (but obviously not as harmful) as attacking someone for being different.

You're basically saying they are less human than you and therefor should be excused from behaving normally in the society they are a part of, like they were a small child.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (8 children)

with kids gloves

*kid gloves

They're called kid gloves because they're made from baby goat.

The leather from baby goats is soft and supple and gives you more dexterity than normal leather gloves. If you were handling something that needed great care, you might want to wear kid gloves to have greater manual control.

Why would you handle someone with kids' gloves? Are your hands very tiny?

You're basically saying they are less human than you and therefor should be excused from behaving normally in the society they are a part of

There's nothing abnormal about speaking a foreign language or praying. For all you know, he could have been praying for a safe journey.

(Or praying for the endurance to put up with a shitty passenger.)

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (11 children)

He apprently was praying when she attacked him. Being Muslim, he needs to pray several times a day to stay devout. It's likely he was reciting one of those prayers.

It looks clear that he was speaking in Arabic and she took that to mean that he should be viciously attacked. It's unlikely she knew it was a prayer, so your religious fears above likely dont apply.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I guess I’d be irritated if I had to listen to prayer for my ride, but I think my worst reaction would be retracting a star or two.

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