Brett Matthews seems to have lost a few brain cells somewhere along the road of life. Seems that Somali immigrants have flooded his hometown of Lewiston, ME, making not a few native residents a little unhappy. So Matthews thought he’d take matters into his own hands and show the “dark people” (his words) a thing or two:
Mr. Matthews’s lawyer, James Howaniec, said his client had intended to play a prank. Mr. Howaniec said Mr. Matthews got the head from a pig roast in June and had originally planned to use it for target practice. Mr. Matthews then decided to plant it outside the center, thinking it was simply a gathering place, the lawyer said.
“He did not know it was a place of worship,” Mr. Howaniec said. “There’s certainly nothing in the exterior of the dilapidated storefront that would lead anyone to believe it was a place of worship. He is insistent that he did not know the significance of a pig’s head to the Muslim community.”
In a pig’s eye. Sorry, I just had to say that. If this jackass didn’t know the significance of a pig to a Muslim then why didn’t he choose (as a Somali says later in the story) a cow or goat or sheep? Does this guy’s lawyer take us all to be fools?
Mr. Howaniec said that Mr. Matthews was trying to create a disruption at the center, but that it was not a crime.
“It’s our position that while it was an act of stupidity, it did not rise to the level of any sort of crime, let alone a hate crime,” Mr. Howaniec said. “It’s clearly not something he’s proud of, but as an attorney looking at criminal statutes, I don’t think it rises to the level of desecration of a place of worship.”
No, how could throwing a pig’s head into a mosque constitute desecrating a place of worship?? A preposterous notion.
Judge Ellen Gorman of Androscoggin County Superior Court on Aug. 31. granted the state’s request for a temporary injunction, ordering Mr. Matthews to stay 150 feet from the mosque.
At the hearing Mr. Matthews said that he had planned to put the head outside “where the dark people congregate” as a joke, and that it had slipped from his hand and rolled inside. He said he felt bad about the incident and wished he “could turn back time.”
I’ll bet he does. But not because he feels any remorse toward the Somalis. Rather, because of the slight interference a year in prison might cause with those fun target practices of his. And I’m sure that crack about “dark people” will go a long way to exculpate him from the hate crime charge.
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My significant other is Muslim (from Lebanon; I am white). The father of the family is a physican and the mother is a engineer. They are living the Americian dream– book clubs, a German shephard dog in the back yard, saving more than they are spending, a SUV to bring the kids to basketball practice, the whole 9 yards. They also happen to be faithful Muslims. We should not split “us” and “them,” we are all “us.” Don’t let those evil terrorists divide our amazing, learned Muslim community from the rest of America.