Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, of Chapel Hill, and his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh, were shot to death at an apartment building in Chapel Hill, N.C. Their murder is a watershed moment for Americans to confront Islamaphobia in the country.
Source: USA Today
By Qasim Rashid
The shootings in N.C. are about more than parking dispute. Anti-Muslim attitudes are rife.
Three college students killed on Tuesday in Chapel Hill, N.C., were proud Muslims and proud Americans. Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, were dedicated to serving humanity, the down trodden, and the suffering. Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, was a gifted artist at North Carolina State University.
In my mind, it’s hard to believe that these Muslim students were not in some way targeted and murdered because of their faith.
A neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, has been charged with first-degree murder in the students’ deaths. While Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue has suggested that Hicks’ motive was based on a “dispute over parking,” he also acknowledged “concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated.”
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Let’s face it, if Hicks was Muslim, and the victims were white like Hicks, we would be hard pressed to find a headline without the word terrorist. In fact, on social media, #ChapelHillShooting trended as number one, with many raising this same question. Yet, there has been an apathetic approach to Muslim victims over the past decade that is reflective of a double standard.
Take the alleged gunman:
Hicks describes himself “anti-theist” and praised the likes of author Richard Dawkins. But don’t expect anti-theists to take responsibility for Hicks’ alleged actions. While anti-theists blame Islam because Islamic terrorists merely claim to practice Islam, such an argument apparently doesn’t apply to anti-theist terrorists.
Hicks is a white male. The government reports that 70% of mass shootings in America over the past 30 years have been by white males. But don’t expect any government hearings on why white men are being radicalized, or how to curb their radicalization.
Categories: Americas, Free speach, Free Speech, Islamophobia
Americans are so called civilised peoples while Pakistanis are so called backward peoples. What do you expect from Americans? They even slaughtered the native Indians and grabbed their land.ly disturbed
Hypocrite media.
if it was the opposite then FOX news become fox idiot
The West has never been at ease with Islam since the Crusades. It is unfortunate that huge oil supplies lie under the Arabian Deserts. It is the West that stirred the trouble that led to 9/11. That attack was a desperate act of by men prepared to lose their life. We need to get to grips on who is the terrorist? On 24 November 1963, Lyndon Johnson said, “the battle against communism… must be joined… with strength and determination. Some three million lives were lost in the consequential battles. The US had to pull out due to Public Opinion. Communism lived on. So who was the terrorist?
Terrorism and sexual grooming is nothing to do with Masajid, Imams and Muslim schools. Those Muslim youths who have been involved in terrorism and sexual grooming are the product of western education system which makes a man stupid, selfish and corrupt. They find themselves cut off from their cultural heritage, literature and poetry. They suffer from identity crises and I blame British schooling.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
You can not blame everything on the western civilization either. The Muslim world is at present a confused lot.
They never think objectively. There has to be an attitude change so that we can look at ourselves with prejudice and preconceived notions. They we will see the dirt on our face.The Muslim world has to become more democratic, free thinking and objective so that time worn concepts and creeds can be thrown out and stick to the basics of Islam rather than chant radical slogans.
Otherwise the enmity towards Islam and Muslims will increase and the sufferings and tragedies will continue.
May be the Ulemas need flogging.
Think it is a case of them being cool well-liked kids and him, the shooter, being miserable. His wife of seven years who describes him as fair, is in the process of getting a divorce. While he is being called an “exemplary student” his problems with studies could have also contributed to his misery.
Generally miserable people hate wallowing in their private misery, they want to spread it around. So they choose their victim (s) to unload their misery on. The main criteria in the choice is usually (a) they look happy and (b) well-liked for what they are (c) they aren’t sufficiently respectful.
I have had some personal experiences with such folks. Luckily they weren’t armed or I wouldn’t be here to philosophise about the situation.
The best trait of patience is slipping away from our society, which is a must for co-existence, progress and peace in the country. Secondly, we must do justice, without which, nations disintegrate and fall pray to immoral and heinous acts. May God guide these misled individuals and put them on the right track.
Kalimullah Khan
No reason can justify this triple murder.
Parking areas sometimes become war zones.If the parking areas are congested and there is first come and first take kind of rule.If there is repetitive jealousy it incites all other prejudices.In the downtown areas esp in Canada and USA we have experienced these impatient drivers even if they are outsiders to that area and seldom see each other again.The visitors parking outside the condominium is even considered as personal.Here majority owns two cars,does two jobs,travel daily long distance.The people are sometimes sleep deprived.The short tempered people ‘s anger escalates fiercely fire and guns are easily available.. Anger management is often taken lightly.Red flags should be seen by the both the parties and reported to the authorities.Public education in this regard is crucial.Allah knows better.To Allah we belong and to Him shall we return.