Woman Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime Against Arab-American Supervisor

According to a press release from the United States Department of Justice, a woman has plead guilty to federal hate crime charges Friday. Kia Reid worked at the Sheraton Suites Hotel in Philadelphia. Authorities claim that Reid left a threatening note in her supervisor's office. Reid's supervisor is an Arab-American; the anonymous note Reid left for her contained threats that Reid had pieced together from words cut from literary publications.

The threats were violent in nature and targeted the supervisor and the supervisor's children. The threats included: ""Remember 9/11," "you and your kids will die like dogs," "tie onto the fence," "death," along with other mentions of the events of September 11th, 2001 and death and hanging.

According to an article in the May edition of The Arab American News the victim approached the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). The groups approached the FBI civil rights unit and informed them of the crime.

According to The Arab American News the executive director of MPAC named Salam Al-Marayati made these statements during a joint press conference with FBI agents regarding the case: "This hate crime in Philadelphia is an illustration of the manifestations of hate that result from Islamophobia," said Al-Marayati. "This hate-mongering is an exploitation of the fear and hysteria from 9/11."

Bryan Lynch, the FBI special agent in charge attended the joint press conference and reportedly stated: "Today's announcement of the information filed charging Kia Reid with a hate crime signifies the FBI's and the US Attorney's Office commitment to investigating these types of violations and is a part of our broader mandate to protect the civil rights of all Americans.", according to The Arab American News.

Reid's crime was determined to be a "back lash crime" by the United Stated Department of Justice, meaning her crime was motivated by bias against Arabs and Muslims due to the events of September 11th, 2001.