Culture Clash in Gwinnett
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The news coverage of a 17-year-old Muslim girl who converted to Christianity, then fled her home in Ohio because her father reportedly threatened to kill her as an apostate, came in fortuitous juxtaposition to my visit to Gwinnett’s Family Violence Court this week (I was a only a spectator).
Rifqa Bary sought refuge in Florida with the pastors of an Orlando church, a married couple that she befriended on Facebook. Some cable news talking heads and the girl’s father accused the Florida couple of brainwashing the girl, saying that no violence had ever been documented in the Muslim family’s home.
A 17-year-old runaway who claims she fled her Muslim family’s home in Ohio because she feared becoming the victim of an “honor killing” will stay in Florida — temporarily — a judge ruled Friday.
I do not know if the girl is in danger or not, but it is a fact that “honor” killings do occur. Many Muslim women are practically enslaved by their husbands, if not by the indoctrination of an oppressive religion. If it has not happened already, it is just a matter of time before a woman is killed here in Gwinnett because of an alleged “dishonor” that she brought on her husband.
The first four cases on the docket involved married or formerly married couples and one “live-in” arrangement. Six of the eight individuals involved were immigrants; two from India, two from West Africa and a Hispanic couple. Four of the eight parties admitted, through their testimony, to being in the country illegally. (That’s a discussion for another day.)
Three of the four females required county-paid interpreters; one spoke Hindi, another French and the last, Spanish. The French-speaking woman from West Africa was Muslim, as was her boyfriend. So, too, was the Hindi-speaking woman and her ex-husband.
Both Muslim women testified to being totally controlled by the Muslim men in their lives. The Hindi woman’s story was especially disturbing. She described, through the interpreter, how she was not allowed to speak in her home unless given permission. She was not allowed to eat until her husband had finished his meal, and then she was only allowed to eat foods that had reached their expiration date.
Her husband constantly monitored her phone calls and contact with other non-family members, even though he would spend hours late at night talking with other women. If she stepped out of line at all—if she did not obey or spoke to her husband without permission, she was beaten. When she complained, he threatened to turn her over to immigration authorities.
One day, her husband forced her to sign a blank piece of paper. When she asked why, he explained that he may decide to kill her one day, and that he would create a fake suicide note to hide his crime.
She recounted several other occasions on which he demanded that she sign documents that he would not let her read. Only months later, on a night when he kept her from entering her home after a visit to her mother’s house, did she learn that she had been forced to sign a separation agreement and divorce papers… an agreement in which she signed away all rights to all personal property including the home.
The woman was in court seeking a Temporary Protection Order (a “TPO,” commonly known as a “restraining order”) to protect herself from further violence. She had also asked to have the divorce set aside as fraudulent, which seemed a very odd request until she explained that this was her second marriage and that, in her religion, the inability to “please her man” was considered vile and disgraceful. She admitted to trying to remain in the home, subject to continued beatings, simply to avoid the stigma of being twice divorced. Also, a cousin with whom she was staying temporarily was ready to pull in the welcome mat for fear of “aiding and abetting” the apostate divorcee.
The purpose of Family Violence Court isn’t to solve the ills of the world, but to put a band-aid on the situation and give aggrieved parties a little protection and a little breathing room. The Hindi woman did not receive her TPO; the judge ruled that the woman was divorced and thereby free to remove herself from the abusive situation.
The purpose of telling this story? I am not really sure. Islam is a religion of violence and radicalism; but that’s no secret. As a proponent of local enforcement of immigration laws, I recognized that the plaintiffs’ illegal presence in the county resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of your tax dollars being spent this week to mediate their domestic disputes.
Sure, you can argue that it is a good thing for our courts to protect these women from abuse, but their abuse wouldn’t be our problem if they weren’t here at all. I am a compassionate guy, but I am also a realist. The taxpayers of Gwinnett cannot fix the problems of the world; neither should we invite them here through our lax immigration laws and absent local enforcement.
