Christian extremist Attacks Arab Boy

http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2ODYyMjIwPATERSON - Police charged an 18-year-old Christian man with the Jan. 9 stabbing of a John F. Kennedy High School student, and a national Muslim rights advocacy organization Tuesday called on the FBI to investigate the attack as a possible hate crime.Police Detective Robert Vogt said Tuesday that Jonathan Santiago, 18, alsoknown as "Indio", turned himself in to Paterson police Monday after warrants were issued.Santiago - who says he was born in Puerto Rico - was being held at the municipal jail on $35,000 bail, police said. He is charged with aggravated assault and two weapons possession charges, police said.Vogt identified the victim as an Arab teenager who lives in South Paterson, but didn't release his name.A prominent national Muslim rights and advocacy organization, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, called on the FBI to investigate the stabbing as a possible hate crime."We're very concerned with a bias motive of the stabbing," said Ibrahim Hooper, the group's communications director.Hooper said his organization was concerned about the ethnic and religious divisions at Kennedy High School. "Whatever the motivation for the stabbing, the situation at the school needs to be addressed," he said.Students, faculty and community leaders have described the social climate among youth in and outside the school as split along ethnic lines.Hooper said he couldn't recall another situation in which ethnic tension had split a school so thoroughly. "We've all gone to school and there's cliques at school, but nothing this severe."He added that he was shocked to see Muslim and Latino youths divided because they have much in common."We more often see the Hispanic community being very sympathetic to the Muslim community," he said, noting that many Latinos have opted to convert to Islam.Vogt, one of the lead investigators of the stabbing, said there didn't appear to be any ethnic or racial motivation for the attack. "It was very spontaneous," he said.The fight started when Santiago allegedly pulled the hat off the victim's head. They exchanged words, Vogt said, and began to fight."No ethnic or racial overtones had been reported uttered to us by the victim or the suspect," Vogt said.A 15-year-old christian boy was arrested Friday on charges of juvenile delinquency in connection with the assault, police said. Vogt said the boy, Santiago's friend, punched the victim, possibly in the upper body and face.The victim in the attack was released from St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center on Friday after spending four days in the intensive care unit, police said.