The Senate passed a resolution this week honoring Wadea Al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy from Plainfield murdered last October in what authorities called an anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate crime.
The resolution states that “no one should be a target of hate because of their ethnicity or religion, whether such ethnicity or religion is expressed verbally or through how one dresses, such as through the wearing of a hijab, keffiyeh, turban, mitpahat, tichel, shpitzel, sheitel, kippah, or yarmulke,” and that the U.S. “has zero tolerance for hate crimes, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab discrimination.”
Hanan Shaheen, Wadea’s mother, was also stabbed during the attack. Their landlord, Joseph Czuba, has been charged with the killing and with wounding Shaheen.
Hate crimes have spiked since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a conflict soon to hit the one-year mark. Wadee, who was born in the U.S., was killed Oct. 14.
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Democrats, were the chief sponsors of the Senate resolution honoring Al-Fayoume that passed unanimously on Tuesday night in the Democratic-controlled chamber.
U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood, who represents Plainfield and Delia Ramirez, both Illinois Democrats, are the chief sponsors of the companion House measure, which is stalled in the Republican-controlled chamber. House Speaker Mike Johnson has not signaled if he will ever call the resolution.
The Chicago-based Muslim Civic Coalition, which has been pressing for passage of the resolution in the House and Senate, said the language was “inclusive and highlighted the divisive times we live in today as well as an opportunity to collectively change the narrative.”
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Dilara Sayeed, the coalition president, said in a statement, “The dehumanization of Palestinian, African, Latino, Native, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, and other American communities is all connected. There have been too many Wadee Alfayoumis in our nation’s past. We are working tirelessly to ensure we do not have more in our future. Americans, as neighbors and colleagues, do not want to hate each other — or anyone else across the world.”
Last week, Durbin, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, presided over a hearing on the rising number of hate crimes in the U.S. targeting Jews, Muslims and Palestinians. The hearing became contentious, with U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressing a witness, a Muslim, if she supported Hamas. Even as she said she did not, Kennedy said, “You should hide your head in a bag.”
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Durbin said in a statement, “By passing this resolution, the United States Senate is honoring and remembering Wadea’s life and condemning all forms of hate.”
