Johannesburg | Tuesday
A South African Hindu woman who lives in New York has started wearing a crucifix around her neck for fear of victimisation in the aftermath of last week’s attacks on the United States, a newspaper reported Monday.
Kamshana Singh (26) who works as an au pair in the city, told the Johannesburg-based newspaper The Star she started wearing the cross after she had thrice been verbally abused by US citizens who believed she was Arab or Muslim.
She said in the first incident teenagers screamed at her: “We welcome you into the country and this is what you do!”
In the second incident she was at a library when another group of teenagers accused her of being a “Hindustani fundamentalist.”
Singh said she was later targeted when she was walking home and a man hurled abuse at her.
The woman reported the incident to her local police station, where the officer on duty said there had been other incidents of Muslims being abused since the attacks on New York and Washington last Tuesday, which the US government has blamed on Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
“Muslim students at New York University are too scared to leave their residences. People are very hostile and just want to lash out,” she said.
Singh said she was given the crucifix by her employer who urged her to wear it for her own protection.
“I think I’m going to wear it for a while,” she said. – AFP