Professor notes similarities between Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi cases

Brown University professor Tricia Rose said Monday that there were important similarities between the cases of Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi.

"There are some really important similarities," she told The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur. "There are college campuses where young Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and African Americans are joining together, and wearing the hijab and the hoodie together to say, look, this is about people of color, people who are either fundamentally suppressed or unwanted or mistreated being criminally classed, so the presumption is that they are second class citizens, who can be pushed to the side, mistreated illegally -- but nonetheless comfortably -- policed and mistreated."

"The treatment of Muslim communities by police in New York, they do that also to young black people," she added. "So there is a lot of ground here for collaboration, even though there are big differences."

Alawadi, an Iraqi refugee and mother of five, died on Sunday after being brutally beaten in her San Diego home. She was apparently attacked with a tire iron because she was Muslim and wore a hijab.

Inspired by the “Million Hoodie March” to show support for Florida teen Trayvon Martin, who was gunned down by a neighborhood watch vigilante, activists have tried to jump-start "One Million Hijabs" for Alawadi.

Cenk said that if the roles were reversed and a Christian woman was brutally beaten by a Muslim, it would be considered an act of terrorism.

“When Muslims do it, it’s a worldwide global jihad,” he added. “When it’s done to a Muslim, it’s just one person.”

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below: