With terrorist attacks in Paris and a shooting spree in California prompting alarm on the part of many Americans, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Thursday that her “greatest fear” is that expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment will lead to attacks on Muslims in the U.S.
“The fear that you have just mentioned is in fact my greatest fear as a prosecutor, as someone who is sworn to the protection of all of the American people, which is that the rhetoric will be accompanied by acts of violence,” Lynch told a dinner hosted by a Muslim civil rights organization. “My message to not just the Muslim community but to the entire American community is: we cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on.”
During her remarks to the Muslim Advocates dinner, Lynch did not address the mass shooting at an office party in San Bernardino, Calif. Wednesday in which 14 people were killed. The FBI is leading the investigation in California because of concerns the incident may involve international terrorism. Officials say American-born Syed Rizwan Farook carried out the shooting along with his Pakistani wife, Tashfeen Malik, both of whom were killed in a confrontation with police later in the day. Farook reportedly took two trips to Saudi Arabia in recent years, including one to pick up Malik, but it remains unclear whether the attack had any direction or inspiration from abroad.
Lynch did mention the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and have been linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. She said that for the French people those events are “really their 9/11.” However, the attorney general warned against looking for “the easy fix” following incidents like those attacks. She did not cite any particular comments about Muslims or identify any such speakers, but she said she was troubled by legislative proposals to cut off the admission of refugees from Syria and other countries considered prone to Islamic radicalism.
“I know people are saying, ‘Oh, if you stop the refugees,’ and passing a bill and make people sign to guarantee them ... you know, this is not the way,” Lynch said, apparently referring to a measure the House passed last month. “I will look at anything and consider anything that will keep the American people safe but ... you take aggressive action you don’t take impetuous action.”
“My view is that we cannot be ruled by fear. When we are ruled by fear, we actually are not making ourselves safe,” Lynch declared. “My message to the Muslim community is we stand with you in this.”
During an on-stage conversation with Muslim Advocates executive director Farhana Khera, Lynch also spoke about tensions related to police shootings of African Americans. She said videotaped evidence had forced some police officers and some outside inner-city communities to acknowledge police misconduct they had previously dismissed.
“In a sense the environment has changed, it’s become more difficult because we are seeing these things that are very, very vivid and hard to watch and frankly painful to watch,” Lynch said. “They are hard to watch, but they are so important to watch because they have given us the ability to open up this dialogue and it has really meant that not only law enforcement but other members of the community who for a variety of reasons never really accepted that this kind of misconduct went on, now have to see what so many groups have been saying for so many years.”
“The refrain among the police is, ‘Oh gee, that wouldn’t happen,’” the attorney general added. “People move away from painful things. These videos mean that we cannot do that. And frankly, it has in many ways forced a discussion in law enforcement that has been long overdue and that has in many ways been very productive.”
During her appearance, Lynch also touted the Justice Department’s work investigating anti-Muslim hate crimes and advocating for Muslim communities whose efforts to build or expand mosques have been stymied by local opposition.
Asked about her most rewarding work, Lynch mentioned her assistance to a war crimes tribunal in Rwanda and said the harrowing stories she heard from victims of genocide give her perspective that is useful when she faces challenges at work.
“When someone asks me how I’m doing and it’s been a bad day or difficult day, it’s like: ‘I’m alive. No one’s chasing me with a machete ... I’m good,’” she said.