From TPM:

The New York Police Department has confirmed to TPM that a cab driver in Manhttan was allegedly stabbed by a passenger who asked if the cabbie was Muslim, and says the incident is being treated as a hate crime. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder and other crimes.

Unfortunately, hateful rhetoric leading to violence is all too common and does not come as a shock. Let’s hope that as the Right ratchets up the hate leading up to November’s elections, the violence does not become widespread.

Read PFAW’s statement on the Muslim community center in lower Manhattan.

UPDATE: The stabbing victim has issued a statement (article contains description of the attack) through the NYC taxi union.

“I have been here more than 25 years,” Ahmed H. Sharif said in a statement. “I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before. Right now, the public sentiment is very serious (because of the Ground Zero Mosque debate.) All drivers should be more careful.”

“While a minority of has-been politicians spew ignorance and fear, it’s the working person on the street who has to face the consequences,” added NYTWA [the drivers’ union] Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. “This kind of bigotry only breeds more violence and makes taxi drivers all the more vulnerable on the streets where there are no bully pulpits or podiums to hide behind.”