Sunnyvale public safety officers are trying to track down two young men who struck someone in the face on a busy street, apparently simply for being a Muslim man who was wearing a black cap and holding a Koran.
He might be the third victim in Santa Clara County this year to fall victim to a reported anti-Muslim crime, according to the county's Office of Human Relations. Last year there were none.
"They asked him if he was Jewish, and when he said, "No, I'm a Muslim,' they told him that was worse, you must be a terrorist," said Capt. Dave Verbrugge, a Sunnyvale Public Safety Department spokesman.
Some Jewish men wear a skull cap called a yarmulke or kippah, and some Muslim men customarily wear a cap called a kufi or taqiyah.
The attackers approached the 40-something man on El Camino Real at Sycamore Terrace on Friday. He was waiting for a ride to pick him up and take him to a 1:30 p.m. prayer service, called a Juma'ah, according to Zahra Billoo, program director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara.
Billoo talked to the victim by the phone, and helped notify the FBI about the attack. She believes he may have been trying to get to the Muslim Community Association, the Bay Area's largest mosque, on Scott Boulevard in Santa Clara.
One of the young attackers, described as having blond hair and either in his late teens or early 20s, struck the man "three or four times with the open heel" of his hand,
Verbrugge said. The man fell to the ground, walked home and called for help 20 minutes later. He reported some facial cuts and bruises, but Verbrugge said he declined any medical treatment.
Public safety officers say this attack was unprovoked.
"If this was a regular attack, it would be classified as a simply battery," Verbrugge said. "But because of what they said, our officers wrote it up as a hate crime."
The victim, who has asked to remain anonymous, texted a statement Monday to a Council on American-Islamic Relations spokeswoman, which read in part: "The night it happened, I was up most of the night looking out the window making sure I was not followed home. It's sad we can't worship God openly. Out of fear, we have to hide it."
An annual survey by the council found anti-Muslim reported incidents dropped to 116 in 2008 from 135 in 2007 nationwide, a decrease of 14 percent. Those are the most recent numbers available.
In addition to Friday's Sunnyvale beating, Delorme McKee-Stovall, manager for the Santa Clara County Office of Human Relations, said there were two other anti-Muslim reports so far this year.
She cited an April incident at Luther Burbank Elementary School, where a Muslim teacher was called a terrorist, and her room was vandalized; and a March 31 incident at the As-Safa Academy on Latimer Avenue in San Jose, where a woman made derogatory statements and assaulted two Muslim teachers, and was later arrested.
Even though the reported Sunnyvale beating took place on a busy street during midday, Verbrugge said, there were no witnesses.
Officers canvassed the neighborhood, which includes several Japanese restaurants, a Comfort Inn and Best Western Inn, the Han Kook Grocery Store, and the Palace Bar B Que Buffet.
Detective Jose Ramirez is expected to follow up with the victim today to see if he remembers anything more, including a more specific description of the two attackers.
Authorities ask anyone with information about the attack to call the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety at 408-730-7110.
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