Mosque Arsonist In Georgia Does Not Own A Confederate Flag

A mosque was set on fire in Georgia, and you might think that the firebug was a local white Christian with the normal objections to Islam, or someone who'd lost family in the war.

You might also guess that the firebug was a local African-American, setting the fire for no particular reason. (Some of the "church burning" epidemic hoax of the 90's was that.) It actually is neither:

Officials say a 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with setting fire to a Marietta mosque he had attended.

Marietta fire marshal Scott Tucker said Thursday that Tamsir Mendy was arrested Wednesday night and charged with first degree arson at the mosque, which caught fire Monday night. Tucker says Mendy is being held without bond.

Tamsir Mendy is not an African-American name, it's an African name--there are people named Tamsir in Guinea and Gambia, and people named Mendy in Senegal.

White American Muslim convert Ibrahim Hooper has issued a statement saying

“Unfortunately, there is a vocal minority in our society promoting anti-Muslim bigotry, and that minority is experiencing little or no pushback from mainstream religious and political leaders.”

I don't know whether he means Evangelical Christians, (who are supposed to be anti-Muslim, just as Protestants are supposed to be anti-Catholic and vice versa) or the staff of the Weekly Standard.

But an immigrant from the west coast of Africa doesn't fit either template. If Mr. Hooper wants people on the west coast of Africa to not hate Muslims, he's going to have change the behavior of the Muslim rulers of those countries.