Alecia Foster and Ryan Carter
NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Levon Marashlian, history and politics professor
at Glendale Community College, spent the early morning hours Tuesday
taping the news to show to his government class.
Then the regular program was interrupted with breaking news of attacks
on both the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
"At first it looked like it was an accident," Marashlian said.
It wasn't.
What Marashlian quickly began to realize was that what he was seeing
an example of what he had discussed for years as part of his Politics in
the Middle East class: terrorism.
"This is pure, unadulterated hatred," Marashlian said.
While the attacks happened thousands of miles away, already there have
been reports of hate-related incidents in Burbank.
Two boys allegedly armed with baseball bats were walking on Lamer
Street, confronting people and asking them if they were Palestinian,
Burbank Police Sgt. Bill Taylor said. Officers responded, but the boys
were not found.
In another report, a suspicious note with a negative reference to
Israel was found inside Bank of America at 142 E. Olive Ave., Taylor
said.
Laurie Brand, professor of international relations at USC, anticipated
that feelings of sadness and anger and confusion about how such an attack
could have happened were likely to follow in the coming days and months.
"I think the impact will be a bit longer-lasting for those in New York
and Washington, D.C.," Brand said.
The most immediate concern, however, was blame and backlash,
particularly since some government officials have speculated the attacks
may have been perpetrated by any number of Middle Eastern terrorist
groups.
Members of the council on American-Islamic Relations of Southern
California and the Muslim Public Affairs Council reiterated that concern.
In a statement issued by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, officials
stated that "all Americans should stand together to bring the
perpetrators to justice."
It went on to say: "We warn against any generalizations that will only
serve to help the criminals and incriminate the innocent."
