(3)     Thu 22 Jun 95  0:51
By: Robin Murray-o'hair
To: All
Re: Moslem Guards Accused
St:                                                                         20>
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@TID: WILDMAIL!/WC v4.11  94-0279
MUSLIM GUARDS ACCUSED IN FLOGGING DALLAS BOYS

Justice, Or a Frightening Example of Religious Brutality?

 by Conrad Goeringer


     Members of a Black Muslim security guard service are being accused
of abusing and flogging four youngsters following an alleged theft in a
Dallas, Texas, shopping mall.  Four Muslims have been arrested in the
incident and charged with aggravated kidnaping.

     According to store owners, the youngsters took a cash register
valued at $300 that held another $55 in cash; one of them was later
spotted in the mall, and apprehended by Nation of Islam guards who "hire
out" as security.

     According to police reports, the first boy confessed and identified
his confederates to the Muslims; the boys were then held for four hours
last Monday evening, as the Nation of Islam guards forced them to
disrobe, then run a gauntlet of 50 Muslims who beat them with belts and
bamboo canes. The victims suffered bruising on their backs, buttocks and
legs.

     Unfortunately, this incident is rapidly dividing the Black community
in Dallas.  The mall is owned by a Black preacher named Ga Oluku Lagbara,
who purchased the property two years ago.  Although it has a number of
vacancies, it is the only mall in Texas owned by a Black. The 41
businesses located there enjoy the loyalty of many customers from the
surrounding community.

     One of the mall enterprises is a store which sells Muslim literature
and recordings of speeches by Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan.

     One Farrakhan project has been the use of Nation of Islam guards
(known as the "Fruit of Islam") in businesses, housing projects, and
neighborhoods.  Critics note that although crime has been reduced in some
areas where the Muslims patrol, it has increased in others. They also
note that the Dallas incident is the latest in a growing chain of abuses
involving the Muslims.  In Inglewood, California, two Nation of Islam
members were convicted of second-degree murder in the death of an unarmed
patron at a nightclub in 1992.

     The alleged brutality in this latest incident even shocked the
Dallas police: a spokesman told the New York Times (6/16) that "Not even
parents have the legal right to discipline their kids to this extent."
Others point out that beating and caning -- if done by police or any
other private security organization -- would cause considerable uproar
from Blacks and civil libertarians.  But one 240 pound, 6' 3" Fruit of
Islam guard defended the beating, saying that the youngsters were
"whipped because they did wrong. . . .We take care of our own."

     Tensions peaked Monday night when police tried to arrest Muslims
implicated in the beatings; 50 members of the Nation of Islam stood
shoulder to shoulder in the mall parking lot blockading the entrance.
And while many Blacks don't trust the Dallas Police, some are now
becoming concerned over the lack of accountability in the "Muslim
militia."

                              --30--

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