* I hate having to do it, but I’ve often warned my wife about speaking Arabic on her mobile phone in certain public places…

Twenty-three-year-old Joshua Scaggs is being held on $500,000 bond after he allegedly slashed the throat of a University of Illinois law school professor. A witness tells police both the suspect and victim were seated in the waiting area of a train station in Champaign when the suspect jumped up and shouted “this is my country” and attacked the victim. The attacker reportedly told police he thought the victim was Middle Eastern. […] An assistant state’s attorney says he decided not to charge Scaggs with a hate crime because the other charges have stiffer penalties.

My wife is an Iraqi Christian, but some people don’t even know there is such a thing. To far too many people, all Arabs are Muslims and all Muslims are anti-American terrorists. I have been stunned over the years by the ignorance of many people I thought would know better.

* Even more bizarre, the victim in this case isn’t of Arab descent…

Scaggs has been charged with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery, alleging he slashed the throat of Anurudha Udeni Dhammika Dharmapala, 41, of Champaign at the Illinois Terminal on Wednesday morning. He is a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law specializing in law and economics, tax policy, public economy, and political economy. Carle Foundation Hospital was not releasing information about his condition Thursday morning but Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Ziegler said he was told that Dharmapala sustained about a six-inch cut on his throat which bled profusely.

Stories like this freak me out.