The Boston Marathon bombings are horrendous reminders of the vulnerabilities our country still faces. It is all too easy for people with nefarious motives to cause tragedies both big and small. When the two bombs went off, people immediately flashed back to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. So naturally, who was the first suspect to be questioned by the FBI? A Saudi citizen, of course.
When the bombs went off, thousands of people began running away. One of them was a Saudi Arabian student here in Boston to study. Even though this would be considered a normal reaction by anybody, some witness thought his running seemed suspicious. He tackled the student and held him until law enforcement could collect him. The student himself was injured by the bombs and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The FBI continued questioning him in his hospital bed and even searched his apartment. They finally concluded that he is not a terrorist suspect.
It's sad that Americans are still so xenophobic that we suspect anybody who is not white as a criminal. After the Oklahoma City bombing, people immediately thought it too was caused by Middle East terrorists. I thought at the time that it would be extremely strange for international terrorists to travel all the way to Oklahoma City to cause mayhem. Surely there are better targets in more cosmopolitan cities. And of course the culprits turned out to be a couple of white dudes who decided they didn't like their government and bought a few hundred pounds of fertilizer to make a bomb.
So before we start hating on people of Middle Eastern descent, let's take a deep breath and just wait for further findings from the FBI. We don't need any more racist vigilantes blaming innocent Arab students and causing a black eye in our fraught relationship with the Mideast countries.
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