An email from one of my brothers:
Do stay aware of your surroundings.
On Sunday, about 1pm, I stopped on my way through Ft Wayne to buy gas at a Marathon station in the deepest, darkest end of town...on Anthony Street, a 4-lane, fast-moving N-S throughfare. I often stop there because Anthony was the route I routinely used to take attending the Autodesk CAD class we no longer hold in the Ivy Tech complex, tucked behind IPFW.
Gas there was (expectedly) 2.39 a gallon, and intending to fill up, I walked inside and palmed two $20's as I stood in line to the cashier. My usual and customary quip is, "Pump #_, I'll come back for my change..." However, about two bodies from the cashier, a loud voice behind me on the right proclaimed: "ALLAHU-AKHBAR...!" Hearing this, I slowly indexed my trouser seam with my right thumb, finding my shirt-tail, and turned to see the "goings-on." A tall black man was the only person in the sector from which that proclamation had come, and he was intent on retrieving his money from the ATM. Some other people had "jumped," but I had not. I simply changed my stance to face half-toward the man, and slipped ONE of the $20's back into my left pants pocket.
My decision made, when I got to the cashier moments later, "Pump #_, here's $20...see ya later, dude..." I walked out, and figured if the SOB needed shot, I'd rather be out with more room to do whatever, and by the way, somebody ELSE could take this guy in close-quarters.
My take, and I'm sharing this with anyone who cares to listen, is that the idiots in Ft Wayne have decided they need to "ratchet up" the anxiety. In my experience, when Muslims greet one-another, it ain't with that proclamation. It's with something that sounds like, "Ashalam alaiku..." To use the 'Allahu Akhbar' proclamation is to confront, and put on notice, non-believers.
So...keep your heads on a swivel...you need to know what is going on around you. Not necessarily because there WILL be violence, but to become aware of the level of "confrontationalist 'anxiety-level-influencing'" that is being perpetrated in your vicinity.
Do stay aware of your surroundings.
On Sunday, about 1pm, I stopped on my way through Ft Wayne to buy gas at a Marathon station in the deepest, darkest end of town...on Anthony Street, a 4-lane, fast-moving N-S throughfare. I often stop there because Anthony was the route I routinely used to take attending the Autodesk CAD class we no longer hold in the Ivy Tech complex, tucked behind IPFW.
Gas there was (expectedly) 2.39 a gallon, and intending to fill up, I walked inside and palmed two $20's as I stood in line to the cashier. My usual and customary quip is, "Pump #_, I'll come back for my change..." However, about two bodies from the cashier, a loud voice behind me on the right proclaimed: "ALLAHU-AKHBAR...!" Hearing this, I slowly indexed my trouser seam with my right thumb, finding my shirt-tail, and turned to see the "goings-on." A tall black man was the only person in the sector from which that proclamation had come, and he was intent on retrieving his money from the ATM. Some other people had "jumped," but I had not. I simply changed my stance to face half-toward the man, and slipped ONE of the $20's back into my left pants pocket.
My decision made, when I got to the cashier moments later, "Pump #_, here's $20...see ya later, dude..." I walked out, and figured if the SOB needed shot, I'd rather be out with more room to do whatever, and by the way, somebody ELSE could take this guy in close-quarters.
My take, and I'm sharing this with anyone who cares to listen, is that the idiots in Ft Wayne have decided they need to "ratchet up" the anxiety. In my experience, when Muslims greet one-another, it ain't with that proclamation. It's with something that sounds like, "Ashalam alaiku..." To use the 'Allahu Akhbar' proclamation is to confront, and put on notice, non-believers.
So...keep your heads on a swivel...you need to know what is going on around you. Not necessarily because there WILL be violence, but to become aware of the level of "confrontationalist 'anxiety-level-influencing'" that is being perpetrated in your vicinity.