This morning I woke up to my Facebook newsfeed flooded with articles of a triple murder that occurred yesterday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 3 young muslims, college students, shot execution style in their own home by a 46 year old white male. I flipped through article after article trying to see if any other source would give more information. A short time later I found an article that said the police have not made any comment about the motive but the article stated that the man who turned himself in for the murders was an atheist and his Facebook page made mention of negativity towards religion. Ok... sounds like a hate crime... right? Then after more time goes by I see some articles are now saying this incident is being related to a "parking dispute between neighbors" ... UMMM... WHAT?
So you want me to believe that an ongoing dispute over a parking spot caused a 46 year old grown man to get so enraged that he somehow found his way into the home of 3 kids (ages 23, 21, and 19) and shot each of them in the head execution style? How did he get into their home? Wow .. I mean.. it makes me want to see the parking spot in question. A parking spot so special it was worth not just one, not two, but THREE LIVES. I'm sure it didn't matter to the 46 year old that the 23 year old victim, Deah Shaddy Barakat, was a dental student; or that the 21 year old, Yusor Mohmmad had just gotten married to Deah only 2 months prior and was applying to dental school; or that the 19 year old victim, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, the sister of Yusor Mohammad, was in college getting her bachelors. These weren't terrorists or extremists... these were normal average muslim kids, living normal average lives. Well maybe not average. They were all involved in charitable work and they were smart kids that were involved in their community. So maybe better than average. Oh but wait.. the two girls wore head scarves, hijab, - so it was plain to see that they were muslim.
When did being a muslim in this country become a crime or a reason to be targeted? I don't know when it happened but it is ignorant to think that it hasn't happened. After reading about this merciless tragedy, I read Facebook statuses of two girls today who were also targeted and threatened. One girl was followed and stalked for several minutes, and as she called 911 out of fear, she had a gun pointed at her with a white male yelling "watch the f*ck out, we're killing all of you!" In the other incident a girl stopped to take a picture and was approached by a white male who yelled at her, "go back to your country, or better yet go to North Carolina - they know how to deal with your kind there!"
So I'll admit it. I'm scared out of my mind. I was born and raised in the United States - this is my home. It is the only home I've ever known. I'm American. I'm also muslim. Its my religion, my belief, my faith. But I'm still American - being muslim doesn't make me any less American... or does it? Is that what the news and media are teaching people? You can't be muslim and belong in this country? So no matter how good of a person you are you can be killed in this country because you're muslim? This unfortunately isn't an isolated incident of one crazy guy. This is an illustration of the islamophobia that the mainstream media has put into the hearts of every non-muslim in this country.
So if you want to believe this was just one random crazy white guy who killed three kids over a parking spot, ok cool... keep living under a rock and denying what is really going on. Because the truth is, this was a
terroristic hate crime against muslims and just because its the one everyone is talking about today doesn't mean its the only one happening. This is a bigger issue. I don't know the solution but I'm scared for not only the current state of Muslim Americans but even more so for the next generation.. is it just going to get harder? Why can't we all live together in peace?
