Excerpt:
Parallels are being drawn between the high-profile case of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot in Florida, and the death of Shaima Alawadi.
Alawadi, an Iraqi-American mother of five, died after a brutal beating in California last week. Next to her body was left the note: "Go back to your country, you terrorist."
Federal investigators are looking into whether Martin's death was racially-motivated, while California police are busy trying to ascertain whether Alawadi's death was a hate crime.