One image from the attack on the Moorhead mosque still lingers for Dr. Ademola Hammed.
A little boy with a scrub brush. One of hundreds of neighbors and strangers who rushed to help after last weekend s attack on the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center.
As volunteers swept up the broken glass and turned power washers on the filth that a vandal had spray-painted on the house of worship, Hammed watched the little boy scrub away at the floor determined not to let hate speech have the last word.
At that moment, he said, the story changed. The story is now the love. It s no longer the hate, said Hammed, vice president of the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Community Center, who watched volunteers drive in from miles away to reach Moorhead, a close-knit college town on the banks of the Red River of the North. That overshadowed everything. That is love. That is love.
Charges: Man damaged Moorhead mosque with racist graffiti to get a reaction
The 22-year-old has been charged with criminal damage and harassment with bias.
Author:
Clay County Jail
A 22-year-old man charged with spray-painting racist messages on a Moorhead mosques said he did it to get a reaction.
Benjamin Enderle, of Moorhead, has been charged with 2nd-degree criminal damage to property and harassment with bias in connection with the damage caused to the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center mosque, which was discovered early Sunday morning.
The N-word, Death to Islam, and a Swastika were among the messages daubed on the building.
Moorhead man accused of mosque vandalism lost touch with reality, half sister says I think he snapped at some point. I think he felt abandoned, half sister Lisa Enderle said. It’s like he’s not connected to reality, Written By: C.S. Hagen | ×
Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center advisor Sajid Ghauri talks to concerned citizens on Sunday, April 25, 2021, at the mosque. C.S. Hagen / The Forum
MOORHEAD Lisa Enderle said she was not surprised when she heard her half brother, 22-year-old Benjamin Enderle, is facing felony charges for allegedly vandalizing the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center with racist and anti-Islam graffiti. Her half brother, she said, was homeschooled, had a rough upbringing and was never exposed to different people and cultures.
Relief after an arrest. 10:00 pm, Apr. 28, 2021 ×
Schools, business, religous organizations, and first responders work at the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Community Center in Moorhead, Minn. on Monday to clean hateful vandalism from the side of the buildling.
MOORHEAD The Islamic community in the Fargo-Moorhead area is feeling a sense of relief after an arrest. Hate has no place in the Moorhead area, said Hukun Dabar, executive director of the Afro-American Development Association.
The Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center was vandalized Saturday night, April 24, with hate speech spray-painted all over the mosque.
Dabar said the community outreach over the past few days helped his community cope.
Federal hate crime charges likely against Moorhead mosque vandal, former US Attorney says
Former U.S. Attorney for North Dakota Tim Purdon said it s typical for state charges to come first. Written By: Matt Henson | 10:34 pm, Apr. 28, 2021
FARGO State charges are already rolling in the case of a man accused of vandalizing a mosque in Moorhead, and federal charges are likely to follow.
Former U.S. Attorney for North Dakota Tim Purdon said cases like these take time to build. I would be surprised if federal charges are not brought in this case, he said.
The case in question involves the vandalism of the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center, which was defaced with racial slurs, anti-Islam sentiment and video game references late Saturday night.