Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday warned against anti-Arab discrimination as a result of the war with Iraq.
His comments came one day after a man was charged with assault and ethnic intimidation for threatening the Arab-American owner of a West Side store after the two men argued over the war.
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Johnny R. Griffin, 33, of 3404 W. Walnut St. was charged Wednesday for threatening Husin Almoughuabi, who owns John`s Food and Liquors, 260 N. Pulaski Rd., Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Tina Vicini said.
Vicini said Griffin had threatened to kill Almoughuabi because he is an Arab, although Almoughuabi insisted, ”I have nothing to do with what`s happening over there.”
Daley, speaking at the Palmer House at the 45th annual Council on Human Relations luncheon, praised Chicago`s different ethnic groups, saying that diversity is the city`s greatest strength, as well as its greatest challenge. Daley praised the city`s Arab-American community.
”They, too, have relatives at risk in this crisis. They, too, want peace,” he said. ”Discrimination has no place in Chicago, and there is no reason to discriminate against the Arab-American community here because of events in the Middle East.”