Source: Huffington Post
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Thousands of people gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Wednesday to pay tribute to the three young Muslims who were killed by a neighbor a day earlier.
The gathering was held at a central meeting space on UNC’s campus. In a show of solidarity, some of those who attended were students from nearby arch-rival Duke University. As scenes from the short lives of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha played in the background on a projector, a parade of speakers came to a podium to honor the victims.
“I know that I can’t make sense of it. Many others can’t make sense of it,” said Barakat’s brother, Farris. Speaking through his grief, he made a simple request, one that many of the other speakers echoed: “I plead that you live in their legacy,” Farris said.
Friends and family members spoke of the three victims’ commitment to public service and scholarship, as well as their general good nature. Other than the speakers, the vigil was nearly totally silent, interrupted by the occasional sound of police sirens in the distance. And though many were in tears, there was also some laughter, as mourners recalled fond memories of the three killed on Tuesday.
Categories: Americas, The Muslim Times, United States
Khuda in ko “ghareeq-e-Rehmat” kre or marnay wala yaqeenun koi deranged ‘muslim’ ho ga….!
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. 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. I am surprised, or should I be, that the local police initially said the killings arose out of a parking dispute, and did not appear to be a hate crime or racially motivated. I have heard of people getting shot in [heated] parking disputes, but three young people executed on the spot by shots in the head, two of whom apparently dressed in traditional Muslim clothing, were not killed because of a parking dispute.
Of course the investigation must be completed. But the symptoms point to hate crime; that’s why the investigation has began. Look at the young people, and how they were brutally killed. I have no mercy upon the killer whether it is hate crime or any other. He does not seem to be worried about what he had done; he seems to be very relaxed. Criminals have certain privileges until the crime is proven in a court of justice. Still the accused of such brutal crimes must not have these many privileges. Death of a any human being touches everyone’s heart. I wish this criminal be tried, confirmed, and punished to the level he deserves. I still he must show at least some remorse for what he had done. May the three souls be happy with the Creator in the Paradise! May the Creator counsel the families through His Angels!
This is unequivocally a gruesome hate crime: it is an outrageous and a preposterous lie for police to claim that the summary execution of three young aspiring model Muslim citizens was due to a parking dispute. A politicized police is no police..such false claim insults our intelligence and the lovely memory of the three innocent souls. The whole Muslim world is outraged as it is saddened. The pouring of support of the ChapelHill community is very comforting for the family of the victims and reflects on the decency of the American People as a whole. The condemnation of the president, thou a bit slow, and the FBI intended investigation are also comforting and sent a positive message to the community of several million American Muslims.
Perhaps the final proof that this was a hate crime, is the small detail shown on several videos that the “offending” car was not in the killer’s designated spot at all, but rather in the adjacent one. This was not a parking dispute. It was a demented brute with a deep hatred for the religious, finally unable to keep himself from killing them. Whether his hatred was broad or specific is beside the point. He hated a group of people, he killed them in cold blood. What he did is by definition a hate crime, and needs to be prosecuted as such.
A neighbour, 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. These were truly beautiful people, fill of life and peace, Their happiness speaks in the pictures of their faces; so does their innocence. As the groom’s brother said in an interview, “we must fight hate, together.” All forms, but especially our own darkest visions.
This is, in my opinion, a hate crime. From many other news articles, it appears that Hicks had confronted neighbors about where they parked their cars, called the towing company to remove cars out of the visitors parking spaces because he did not recognize the cars. Hicks had parking issues with many neighbors, but he chose to select these three young people, of Muslim faith to shoot. He didn’t just fire many bullets into them, he executed them with shots to their heads. This IS a hate crime. Why these three Muslims and why not the other neighbors to infringed on what he thought were his parking privileges. What would be the responses in this country if three young, Christian, US students studying in a Muslim country, like Turkey, were gunned down? I am sure that there would be a major uproar in the United State.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Iftikhar – your post is xenophobic nonsense.