Suočavanje s prijetnjama smrću i mržnjom: Stav kongresnog kandidata protiv uznemiravanja

Croatian 4:06

Political harassment and death threatsWomen in politicsReligious discriminationCongressional campaignHate speech and abuse

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Melissa Chowdhury, kandidatkinja za kongres, opisuje obrazac sve većeg uznemiravanja, uključujući prijetnje smrću putem glasovne pošte, prijetnje silovanjem i uništavanje imovine, koje je počelo tijekom njezine kampanje 2020. i nastavlja se u njezinoj trenutnoj kandidaturi za Kongres. Detaljno opisuje svoje duboke američke korijene — prati svoju obitelj do Mayflowera s majčine strane, preživljavanje svog djeda u nacističkom koncentracijskom logoru, karijeru svog oca kao umirovljenog zapovjednika američke mornarice i humanitarnog liječnika, te službu svog muža kao odlikovanog vojnog veterana s invaliditetom. Unatoč prijavljivanju incidenata policiji u Seattleu bez ikakve akcije, naglašava da je temelj njezine obitelji uvijek bio služba, žrtva i ljubav prema Americi. Osvrće se na svoju odluku da nosi maramu kao osobni izbor ukorijenjen u dostojanstvu, skromnosti i slobodi koju Amerika predstavlja, uspoređujući to s vjerskim pokrivačima glave koji su nošeni kroz povijest. Izravno izaziva gradonačelnicu Katie Wilson oko odgovornosti, tvrdeći da, ako zlostavljači imaju njezin broj telefona, lokalno vodstvo mora preuzeti odgovornost. Njezina kampanja usredotočena je na osiguranje da svaki Amerikanac ima dostojanstvo, sigurnost i priliku — i izgradnju zemlje u kojoj nitko nije prijetnja zbog svog izgleda ili identiteta.

Key Points

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A congressional candidate in Washington's 9th district shares her experience of receiving repeated death threats and harassment while running for office, and calls on local leadership to address the abuse targeting her and other women, particularly women of color and immigrants.

Summary

Melissa Chowdhury, a congressional candidate, describes a pattern of escalating harassment including voicemail death threats, rape threats, and property destruction that began during her 2020 campaign and continues into her current run for Congress. She details her deep American roots—tracing her family back to the Mayflower on her mother's side, her grandfather's survival of a Nazi concentration camp, her father's career as a retired U.S. naval commander and humanitarian doctor, and her husband's service as a decorated disabled military veteran. Despite reporting incidents to Seattle police without action, she emphasizes that her family's foundation has always been service, sacrifice, and love for America. She addresses her decision to wear a headscarf as a personal choice rooted in dignity, modesty, and the freedom that America represents, comparing it to religious head coverings worn throughout history. She directly challenges Mayor Katie Wilson about accountability, arguing that if abusers have her phone number, local leadership must take responsibility. Her campaign centers on ensuring every American has dignity, safety, and opportunity—and building a country where no one is threatened for their appearance or identity.

Key takeaways

The candidate receives regular death threats and harassment, including specific threats of hanging and rape, targeting her identity as a Muslim woman and American political candidate.
She reports a pattern of abuse spanning at least two years across multiple campaigns, with minimal response from local law enforcement despite documented incidents.
Her family has a documented history of American service and sacrifice: her grandfather survived a Nazi concentration camp, her father is a retired naval commander and humanitarian doctor with deployments to Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan, and her husband is a decorated disabled military veteran.
She defends her choice to wear a headscarf as an expression of personal dignity, modesty, and the freedom she believes America represents, while drawing parallels to religious head coverings worn across cultures and history.
She calls for direct accountability from local leadership, specifically Mayor Katie Wilson, to address and act against racist harassment occurring in the city.
She frames her congressional campaign around protecting dignity, safety, and opportunity for all Americans, including those vulnerable to harassment based on identity, gender, or immigration status.
She emphasizes that her experience of targeted harassment is not unique and urges consideration of how other women, women of color, and immigrant women face similar or worse treatment.

Full article

Receiving Repeated Death Threats

I am receiving voicemail death threats on a regular basis. One recent message said, "We are going to hang you for treason. You anti-American Muslim piece of shit." These calls come to me at midnight repeatedly. This is not new. Two years ago, when I ran for office in 2020, the same pattern emerged: death threats, rape threats, violence, property destruction outside my home, and hate notes left under my car's windshield wiper. When I reported these incidents to Seattle police, they did nothing.

American Heritage and Family Service

I am an American. I'm as American as they come. I was born here on my mother's side, and I can trace my roots back to the American Revolution and the Mayflower. My grandfather on my father's side survived over two years in a Nazi concentration camp and later died from his wounds here in America. My father is a retired U.S. naval commander and an international humanitarian doctor. He has had deployments to Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan among many others, and he has spent his career saving lives and responding to disasters around the world. My husband is an honorable, decorated, disabled American military veteran in a wheelchair due to injuries he sustained on active duty. Service, sacrifice, and love for America has been the foundation of my family's life work since childhood.

A Life Shaped by American Values

I grew up going to Methodist Church on Sundays, singing the national anthem on the Fourth of July with tears in my eyes, and flipping channels between Star Trek and the Super Bowl. This is the America I know. If this is what is happening to me, imagine what is happening to other women, to women of color, and to immigrant women who face similar or worse harassment.

Running for Congress

I have dedicated my life to the best of what America stands for: equality, freedom, and justice for all. I am running for Congress to ensure that every American has dignity, safety, and opportunity—the freedom to grow up, raise a family, develop a career or a business, and grow old with sustenance, stability, and respect. I am fighting for good things for everyone in this country, including the person who just threatened to hang me in public for covering my hair. As you can see from the thousands of comments on my social media, he is not alone.

Accountability from Local Leadership

Mayor Katie Wilson, if racist abusers who want to hang me have my phone number, I am sure you do too. This is happening in your city. What are you going to do about it?

On Wearing a Headscarf

About my headscarf: Mary, the blessed Mother of Jesus, our Prince of Peace, wore one. So have women across cultures throughout history. It is a sign of dignity, modesty, and self-respect. It tells anyone around me that I value myself beyond how you might objectify my body—that my worth is not reduced to my skin or the objectification of my body. But really, my decision to wear it boils down to one thing that I have loved about America since I was three years old. It is a free country, right? If wearing it brings solidarity to those oppressed women in America—yes, oppressed women in America—then maybe that is good solidarity as well.

A Vision for America

My name is Melissa Chowdhury. I am running for Congress in Washington's ninth district because I believe that it is a free country and that no one has the right to hang or kill or threaten to hang or kill another person for wearing a scarf. I am here to build a country where everyone belongs.

Topics#Political harassment and death threats#Women in politics#Religious discrimination#Congressional campaign#Hate speech and abuse#Law enforcement accountability#Identity and freedom of expression

Transcript (Croatian)

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0:00 Ljudi to slušaju.

0:04 Imate jednu novu glasovnu poruku i osam sačuvanih poruka.

0:10 New message.

0:11 Mi ćemo vas objesiti zbog izdaje.

0:14 Vi ste anti-američki muslimanski komad sranja.

0:22 From 13852580286 received yesterday at 11:55 p.m..

0:32 Mi ćemo vas objesiti zbog izdaje, vi ste anti-američki.

0:39 To su pozivi koje dobivam u ponoć više puta.

0:43 O ovim stvarima više neću šutjeti.

0:47 Prije dvije godine, kada sam trčao 2020. za iste stvari dogodilo se.

0:50 Smrtne prijetnje, prijetnje silovanjem, nasilje, uništavanje imovine izvan mog doma, bilješke mržnje ispod stakla za brisanje automobila.

0:57 Policija u Seattleu nije učinila ništa.

1:00 Ljudi, ja sam Amerikanac.

1:02 Ja sam kao Amerikanac koliko i mi.

1:05 Rođen sam ovdje na majčinoj strani.

1:08 Svoje korijene pratio sam do američke revolucije i Mayflowera.

1:11 Moj djed sa strane mog oca preživio je više od dvije godine u nacističkom koncentracijskom logoru i kasnije umro od svojih rana ovdje u Americi.

1:18 Moj otac je američki heroj.

1:19 Umirovljeni američki mornarički zapovjednik, međunarodni humanitarni doktor.

1:23 Imao je razmještanja u Iraku, Bosni i Afganistanu, između mnogih drugih.

1:27 On je spasio živote i odgovorio na katastrofe diljem planete.

1:30 Moj suprug je počasni, dekorirani, invalidni američki vojni veteran u kolicima zbog ozljeda koje je pretrpio. Aktivna dužnost, služba i žrtva te ljubav prema Americi bila je moj životni posao od djetinjstva.

1:46 Odrastao sam odlazeći u Metodističku crkvu nedjeljom, pjevajući nacionalnu himnu na 4. Julija sa suzama u mojim očima i preklapajućim kanalima između Star Treka i Super Bowla.

1:55 Ako se to dogodi meni, zamislite što se događa drugim ženama ili ženama boje boje, a da ne govorimo o imigrantima.

2:05 Posvetio sam svoj život najboljem od onoga što Amerika predstavlja za jednakost, slobodu i pravdu za sve.

2:13 Trčim za Kongres kako bi se osiguralo da svaki Amerikanac ima dostojanstvo, sigurnost i priliku.

2:19 Sloboda odrastanja, podizanja obitelji, razvoja karijere ili poslovanja i starenja uz održavanje, stabilnost i poštovanje.

2:27 Borim se za dobre stvari za sve u ovoj zemlji, uključujući osobu koja je upravo prijetila da će me objesiti na javnosti zbog pokrivanja moje kose.

2:34 I kao što možete vidjeti u tisućama komentara na mojim društvenim mrežama, on nije sam.

2:40 Gradonačelnica Katie Wilson, ako rasistički zlostavljači koji me žele objesiti imaju moj broj telefona, siguran sam da i vi to učinite.

2:47 To se događa u vašem gradu.

2:49 Što ćete učiniti oko toga?

2:51 I još jedna stvar o mojim čarapama.

2:55 Marija, blagoslovljena Majka Isusa, naš Princ mira, nosila je jedno.

3:00 Tako su žene u različitim kulturama kroz povijest.

3:04 To je znak dostojanstva, skromnosti i samopoštovanja i govori svima oko sebe da cijenim sebe izvan granica. Međutim, moglo bi se reći da je moje tijelo jedina vrijednost žene, njezine kože ili objektivizacije njenog tijela.

3:18 Ali stvarno, moja odluka da ga nosim dovodi do jedne stvari koju sam volio o Americi od svoje tri godine.

3:25 To je slobodna zemlja, zar ne?

3:29 A ako ga nosim, donosi solidarnost onima potlačene žene u Americi.

3:33 Da, potlačene žene u Americi, onda možda i to je dobra solidarnost.

3:40 Moje ime je Melissa Chowdhury.

3:42 Trčim za Kongres u devetom okrugu Washingtona jer vjerujem da je to slobodna zemlja i da je tako. Nitko nema pravo objesiti ili ubiti ili prijetiti da će objesiti ili ubiti drugu osobu zbog nošenja maramice.

3:54 I ja sam ovdje da izgradim zemlju u kojoj svi pripadaju. briga. hrabrost. Ustav. Oh, Melissa. za Kongres.

3:59 Care.

4:00 Courage.

4:01 The Constitution.

4:03 Oh, Melissa.

4:04 For Congress.

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