title:  Conservative Leader Hears Tenant Speaking Arabic, What Happens Next Made Us Sick With Rage (IMAGES)
text: The case of a New York Conservative Party leader and her Muslim tenant has gone viral after people the world over were left stunned by perhaps one of the most horrifying cases of modern-day racism reported in the U.S.Last September, 33-year-old Morrocon-born woman Hasna Jalal moved into the $1,500 a month apartment in the Pompey Avenue building of MaryLou Shanahan, former chair of an NY branch of the Conservative Party. It was to be the beginning of months of racial abuse that would end with Shanahan facing felony charges of grand larceny, being in possession of $425,000 worth of stolen property of Jalal s, and a lawsuit for evicting Jalal because she was Muslim. It is however, the details of the harassment that take our breath away.Images via NY Post/SiliveThe suit alleges that the situation began on Sept 6 2015, when Shanahan overheard Jalal in the hall speaking Arabic to her Moroccan relatives. Shanahan reportedly screamed: I don t need anybody speaking Arabic in my house! The neighbors will think you re from Al Qaeda. From this day on, Shanahan launched a campaign of terror against Jalal. It seemed every time Jalal left her apartment, Shanahan would be there. As they passed, Shanahan would hurl insults such as  nasty Arab , and  slut! Next, Jalal would come home to find offensive notes pinned to her door. One read,  Get the f*ck out of my house. You re a f king nasty Arabic pig. This continued to escalate for nearly one month, before matters reached a horrifying climax.On Oct 4, Jalal returned home to find herself locked out of the apartment. The locks had been changed. She began calling on neighbors to try to establish what happened, and they told her they had seen Shanahan clearing the contents of the apartment with removal men earlier in the day. The landlord had emptied Jala s apartment and locked her out while she had been at work.All-in-all, Shanahan had confiscated $425,000 worth of Jalal s property.Jalal went to the police and Shanahan was arrested later the same day for grand larceny and possession of stolen property. But the conservative wasn t done yet. She took to Facebook to begin harassing Jalal all over again, posting: The police will not touch a sociopath, foreigner,  Moroccan, muslim. Jalal has since filed a lawsuit against Shanahan for evicting her on racial grounds, and the former Conservative Party chair will appear in court on the federal charges on Tuesday.This case comes amid a backdrop of hate crimes against Muslims in New York, which have risen sharply in the last year. Attacks against Muslim Americans and mosques in the state have tripled since the Paris Attacks and San Bernardino shootings. According to The New York Times:The spike includes assaults on hijab-wearing students; arsons and vandalism at mosques; and shootings and death threats at Islamic-owned businessesThese attacks have no doubt been incited by conservatives like Shanahan, who prey on the fear and prejudice of others for their own political ends. The same is playing out on the national stage, with the entire GOP clown car adopting a fundamentally racist, bigoted stance toward non-whites, and non-Christians. The result is the daily oppression and trauma suffered by the likes of Hasna Jalal and others, who simply want to get on and live the American dream.Featured Image via Flickr