The Chapel Hill Shooting took place in the US on February 10th 2015 near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Craig Stephen Hicks, an American student, shot three other American students in the head:
- Deah Barakat, 23,
- Yusor Abu-Salha, his wife, 21,
- Razan Abu-Salha, her sister, 19.
Apparent hate crime: Hicks is an outspoken atheist who belongs to Atheists for Equality. He killed Muslim American neighbours that he had threatened and been hateful towards in the past.
The hashtag #ChapelHillShooting went viral on Twitter in the US, Britain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Some said the mainstream media was not covering the shooting, but it made the front page of the New York Times the next day.
The police said:
“preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbour dispute over parking.”
They have not yet ruled out a hate crime.
The father of the two sisters said:
“This has hate crime written all over it.”
and:
“This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far.”
He said that the way the US media is always talking about “Islamic terrorism”, it makes people fear and hate Muslims, making violence against them more likely.
Hicks’s wife said religion had nothing to do with the shooting: her husband had parking disputes with neighbours of all faiths. She said he is a big believer in equality. According to his Facebook page, he hates all religions, not just Islam.
His lawyer says the real issue is the lack of access to mental health care.
Hicks owned 13 guns.
Richard Dawkins, an atheist, condemned the killings:
“How could any decent person NOT condemn the vile murder of three young US Muslims in Chapel Hill?”
President Obama called the crime “brutal and outrageous”. He said the FBI “is taking steps to determine whether federal laws were violated”.
Bombing North Carolina to rid the state of atheist violence appears unlikely: Atheists for Equality is not “associated” with Al Qaeda, so it does not fall under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).
Hicks was arrested by the police within hours; he was indicted for first-degree murder by the grand jury in just six days.
Deah Barakat, a Syrian American, was studying to be a dentist. He had raised money to help bring dental care to the homeless of nearby Durham and to Syrian refugees in Turkey. Refugee camps have little money for dental care – even though soldiers have a habit of breaking people’s teeth with the butt of their guns.
Barakat was to go to Rihaniya, Turkey this summer to help Syrian refugees at the dental clinic there. The clinic is now named the Deah Barakat Clinic.
Thanks to stephaniegirl for suggesting this post.
See also:
- Charlie Hebdo – the Charlie Hebdo shooting was fresh in everyone’s mind when this shooting took place.
- Wade Michael Page – the Sikh Temple killer
- Islamophobia
- grand jury
- If the US dealt with the NYPD as a terrorist group
- Moral Mondays – also North Carolina
For some reason the still from CNN just enrages me. Like what does his rescuing puppies have to do with the price of salt in the Himalayas when it comes to his racial idealogical leanings? I can’t believe the gall of CNN (Oh, but I can) in whitesplaining away the obvious. So disgusting.
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@darqbeauty
Exactly. That just means he values a dog’s life over the life of 3 innocent people.
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Another White man drawing and firing on innocent people who present no threat to their persons. How noble. The Land of the Brave is rife with immoral cowards.
On the bright hand, the Imperial Atheists* won’t be able to say they’ve never spilled blood for their (un)faith. Not that they were fooling anyone with their pacifist B.S., they’re NeoColonial war hawks all but to the man.
===
*I’m an atheist myself, but the movement morphed from defending the validity of the Scientific Method and fighting against pseudoscience like Intelligent Design, into a secular crusade against religion itself, especially Islam, it’s adherents, and anyone who looked Arab. The spread of Atheism at the barrel of a gun is going to be the White Man’s Burden of the 21st Century. I was wise to disconnect from them years ago.
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“the movement morphed… into a secular crusade against religion itself, especially Islam, it’s adherents, and anyone who looked Arab.”
That’s why I can’t stand how Bill Maher will just write off Muslims and even Christians in a self-satisfied way. You can’t deny that many of the good and kind people in the world have religious beliefs that are important to them. At least in my experience, that has been true. I have nothing but respect and gratitude for good people as they are extremely rare in this world. If they are motivated by religious beliefs great. It’s a respite from the kind of people that the logic of capitalism breeds, who drive people to suicide.
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I have a journalist friend who lives next to Chapel Hill, back in the day spent time in a jail cell with MLK and Ralph Abernathy, and has been obsessed with this story. This killer is very hard to define. My friend wrote about it on his blog:
http://afriendlyletter.com/3-nc-muslim-students-murdered-parking/
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Does anybody know how Fox News covered the shooting?
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What a tragedy these poor people lost their lives because of this vile piece of human excrement.
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Linda Keres Carter. How is this person hard to define? How do you define a person who dislikes the sight of you, who you have never met before in your life, who has made a snap judgment about you based on your skin color or the way you dress? I have and still do come into contact with white people like Mr. Hicks. They get up every day and go to work, pay their bills, watch the games on TV and lead a normal every day life. They just have one tiny drawback. They absolutely hate people of color. Everything else is just window dressing.
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Yes, but did he shoot and kill the Christians, atheists and Buddhists that he had parking disputes with, including their families?
@all
Agree that CNN has been utterly pathetic in their coverage about this.
@Kiwi,
You can tell that is tongue-in-cheek, right?
Well, not entirely. No plan has been revealed on how the US will rid itself of Atheist terrorist violence, esp. when perpetrated against believers of the faith.
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North Carolina has plenty of Brown people.
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@ Kiwi
That was a dig on the screwed-up, racist thinking that goes into US ideas about “terrorism”.
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According to conservatives, the common Angry White Guy is a defenseless, threatened species that’s on the verge of destruction and extinction.
Now give him a gun and watch how bold he becomes.
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Not only is this a tragedy, but it’s a hate crime and it ought to be treated as such because that guy has a violent history toward his neighbors.
This crime fits a larger narrative of Islamophobia and racism in America. It’s of no surprise that the governor of NC didn’t denounced the murder as a hate crime. That Muslims/Middle Easterners in America are victims of racist incidents just like other POCs and religious/ethnic minorities.
I’m very happy that Rev. Barber of Moral Monday took the time to acknowledge, pray, and extend sympathy for the victims and the victims’ families. He also staged a medical die-in at the state capital to denounce racism and Islamophobia in America, especially when Duke University refused to let a Muslim student ring the chapel bell.
People like Bill O’Reilly, Gov, McCrory, Rev. Graham had fueled the flames of anti Muslim hatred in America today.
My sympathies goes out to the victims’ family and may they rest in power.
Stephanie a.k.a. La Reyna and Stephaniegirl
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To all whom it may concerned:
Please read the account of his wife’s best friend at:
http://fusion.net/story/47569/chapel-hill-shooting-my-best-friend-was-killed-and-i-dont-know-why/
Very heartbreaking account of her best friend. A must read.
Stephanie B.(La Reyna and Stephaniegirl)
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Reblogged this on Steph's Blog and commented:
Not only is this a tragedy, but it’s a hate crime and it ought to be treated as such because that guy has a violent history toward his neighbors.
This crime fits a larger narrative of Islamophobia and racism in America. It’s of no surprise that the governor of NC didn’t denounced the murder as a hate crime. That Muslims/Middle Easterners in America are victims of racist incidents just like other POCs and religious/ethnic minorities.
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Oh, and forgot to add bigot Bill Maher to the list of Islamophobes. He too fan the flames of Islamophobia by denouncing the religion for its sins while letting Christians, Atheists, etc., off the hook.
He had just as much of the role in Islamophobia and racism as well.
Stephaniegirl
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Here’s the video of the protest:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYmmph9qhNk)
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Religion is still within the context of historical records. I’m pretty much atheist myself but do know the very importance that religion has in historical records. The guy thus hates history / social studies as well…….
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North Carolina has plenty of Brown people.
Thank you Jefe!
The “racism” angle (with regards to the satiric point about bombing North Carolina) is misleading and not central here.
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Atheists are capable of hate crimes.
However, when a radical, fundamentalist Muslim kills (anyone) in the name of Islam–this is also a hate crime.
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” How noble. The Land of the Brave is rife with immoral cowards” @taleoflions-THIS!!!
Thanks for this post, Abagond-it has not gotten the full media coverage that this traumatized family (and their friends/loved ones) sO deserve! Call me a “conspiracy” believer, but there is nO doubt in my mind that these kooks/shi#bags like the killer and those of his ilk are certainly plotting and planning these types of “random” killings of POC-though there are lone nuts, this is happening waaaay too frequently for these events to be spur-of-the-moment bursts of anger over parking spaces, religious differences, or whatever other bullshiz they want to blame their cowardly behavior on!!
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@Mz. Nikita
It needed to be said. American Gun cultists respect neither life nor death; they simply crave the power to destroy others without taking responsibility or considering consequences.
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Sounds like a libertrarian/atheist/skeptic white male racist to me. Liberal or Conservative, etc. Racism isn’t a partisan issue, it’s a WHITE people issue. There are racist white lunkheads with a false,flimsy, and fraudulent white superiority complex to be found in EVERY political persuasion. The problem is WHITENESS as a social location of power.
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Some excerpts from an article about Redpillers, white male atheist, skeptic, libertarian racists and misogynists who believe in social hierarchy with them at the top:
“They’ve yet to assume a formal name, remaining a loose confederation of overlapping reactionary movements resistant to (though exploited by) their would-be leaders. Most identify as libertarian, many as atheists, and they are overwhelmingly white and male. They’re comfortable with progressive terminology and how technology has changed society, which puts them sharply at odds with most conservatives, who see both as a threat to traditional values. Many “Redpillers” perceive conservatism as censorious and unscientific, and instead identify with the “freethought” and “skeptic” internet communities.
..While the scientific method only concerns itself with what can be observed and measured, a uniting thread of Redpillers is scientism, which goes a step beyond that to reject the authority or value of anything that can’t be handled by empirical observation…Indeed, anything that is studied subjectively, like philosophy, religion and theology, or art, is considered a lesser subject because it cannot provide the objective truths of “hard” science. Formally, they assert that objective methods are applicable to every imaginable field. Informally, however, Redpillers tend to simply reject other people’s opinions as subjective while prizing their own as objective.
Redpillers also often subscribe to biological essentialism, a viewpoint that is far from uniquely conservative in its appeal…Human biodiversity, a euphemistically-named biological-essentialist racist movement, is also popular in Redpill circles. Proponents of HBD, such as neoreactionary video blogger and self-described “white nationalist on paper” Davis Aurini, hold that differences in outcomes for different races and ethnicities aren’t a result of racism, but rather of genetic differences between races.
While these so-called “racial realist” views aren’t mainstream in science, they are common in the Redpill universe, especially its most militant and regressive regions, such as the Neoreaction movement. Also occasionally called the “Dark Enlightenment”, this is a movement that seeks to defeat “the Cathedral” (an incoherent alliance of everyone who isn’t a neoreactionary) and roll back liberal affectations like humanism and democracy in favor of monarchy, slavery and ethnic pogroms…You can find Redpiller arguments in any sufficiently young, sufficiently white, sufficiently male internet company, be they neoreactionaries or bitcoiners, hardcore skeptics or GamerGaters, tax evaders, or pick-up artists.
The Redpill Right is the new conservatism of a secular, internet-savvy generation, and its perceived enemies are legion.”
http://boingboing.net/2015/01/28/a-beginners-guide-to-the-red.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
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@Speak out anyone who says they have the answer gives me pause. Absolutism whether it’s religious or not, is a problem because it seems to lend itself to moral crusades and attempts to change others by any means necessary. But I agree the world needs more kind people and I think it’s possible to be an adherent of religious faith or almost any ideology without being intolerant and fanatical.
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One Black woman is standing in solidarity with the victims of the #Chapel Hill Shooting. Her article is at For Harriet.com:
http://www.forharriet.com/2015/02/standing-in-solidarity-with-victims-of.html#axzz3Su4jsEEM
Yes. Race, gender, and religion is connected and if anyone says the murders are not racially/religiously motivated need to get their heads checked.
Stephaniegirl
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@ taleoflionns, Veronica-absolutely correct-whether they be Conservative, Libertarian, or all points in between, it’s a Must that the POC of this world realize who their enemy truly is, and has longgg since been-white so-called “supremacy/insecurity” and like an untamed, unchecked spoiled brat with no education in the realm of human decency and respect they will stop at nothing to get (and keep) their way!!
@ stephaniegirl-kudos for these informative links!
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Have you guys met the average Middle Easterns, don’t confuse them with South Asian people, but real Middle Easterns in America? These people are very Eurocentric. I don’t consider the victims people of color. They are only considered so because they are Muslim but they aren’t by a long shot. Don’t confuse religion with race. I know even you so called experts think you know it all but you don’t.
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It’s terrible and tragic what this guy did, but the arguments basing it on race rather than religion are an absurdity.
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Now that’s interesting. Islam is often noted for being remarkably cosmopolitan throughout its history compared to European Christianity. The temptation of Whiteness is stronger than I’d imagined to have driven a wedge between Muslims.
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@Kiwi
Well those victims are pretty much White Muslims. The thing is people associate groups of religious affiliations together. I can tell you know most of the White Jews and Jews in general in America or elsewhere are oblivious to Israel. Hate directed at the Israeli people or flag is completely the most ignorant thing by Hate groups or hateful people. America only supports Israel because it is just about the only true ally in the Middle East not because of some half ass Jewish Agenda. That doesn’t exist.
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@Kiwi
I know. I’ve endured racism from Muslims personally, but I’ve never heard of it being directed at other Muslims, aside from the Black ones.
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I’d say Arabs and Arab Americans are liminal in terms of race. I would not call them white. The U.S. doesn’t treat white people the way they treat Arabs. This is part of why race is a construct and not a biological reality. Where is the cut off point that we can all readily agree upon?
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If we allow that “white” is an arbitrary and flexible construct that supports a “narrative” then perhaps we can see the broader pattern—For ex, Zimmerman is “white” (relatively) because he has the privilege of carrying a gun and using it that Martin did not have—likewise, had the Muslims carried a gun and used in self-defense and killed or injured Hicks—they would have been condemned outright as “terrorists” simply because they were Muslim.
The pattern/narrative here is that some people have more rights to security and safety than other people and this narrative is also carried over into the global relationships, where Americans have more right to safety and security and thus others have to sacrifice their safety and security in order for the privileged and entitled to keep theirs.
Therefore, regardless of the color of the skin—those who are protected by “white privilege” are white and those outside of this protection are not white.
The flexibility of the label (“white”) serves to distort the real issue which is about the power of the hegemon…..not really about race, hate, or parking space……
The power of the hegemon is protected by the whole system—from furnishing and propagating the myth of white privilege as a default right/entitlement in the education system, to laws and social values that turn it onto a reality to a government that actively supports such a myth both domestically and internationally in its political and economic policies….
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Arabs also share the experience of being colonized by Europe, which is part of what being “non-white” has historically been based on, since the modern system of race was created to justify colonialism. Europe historically has created its identity as Christian against the Muslim Other. Yet Arabs and even Afghans can be blond and blue-eyed, and still live under U.S. or Israeli occupation and die from U.S. bombs along with their darker family members/neighbors. Iran got its name because Hitler pressured their leader to rename the country to reflect its “Aryan” origins, although the Persian American student in my class who told us that also jokingly warned Persians not to say so to Aryan Nation people as they would kill you just the same.
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I also had the experience of having a blue-eyed blond guy come up to me in the college cafeteria and say, “Excuse me, are you an Arab girl?” I thought he was a white boy being an asshole so I said all pissed off, “No, are you?” Imagine my surprise and regret at snapping at him when he said yes.
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@poetess
I agree. Plus, a lot of racism in the U.S. is based on the BS that people of color mooch off of white people’s taxes via “government handouts” (“dog whistle politics”). But white true Christians have compassion for the poor since Jesus taught that being rich or poor has no correlation with one’s worth, and they will side with us if you reframe issues of social justice in ways that remind them of that.
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Outside of the U.S. and Europe, I think prejudice is mostly tribal/ethnic based and not primarily racial (color) based. Originally “Arab” was understood as tribal affiliation. Though these are artificial constructs…tribal/ethnic identity is still strong today in many parts….
Government handouts/American Dream—another myth is that of the “American Dream” that says that because America is a land of equality (equal opportunity) everyone has a chance to “make it”. This is not true and never has been….America was founded on the concept that the White male landowners were entitled to privilege (inequality).
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@Abagond, @darqbeauty @all
The CNN-still is fake: see the arguments at http://studentactivism.net/2015/02/14/that-cnn-graphic-portraying-craig-hicks-as-a-puppy-lover-is-fake/
And apart from the arguments in the above mentioned blog: I couldn’t find any recent CNN-screenshot on the net with a logo on the left in a red square.
I had no idea that anyone would NOT have seen through that hoax.
Disappointing.
And for the rest: what Richard Dawkins says.
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@ Jeff
I corrected the post. Thank you.
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@Jeff Elberfeld
Appreciate the update.
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@stephaniegirl
“This crime fits a larger narrative of Islamophobia and racism in America. It’s of no surprise that the governor of NC didn’t denounced the murder as a hate crime. That Muslims/Middle Easterners in America are victims of racist incidents just like other POCs and religious/ethnic minorities.”—You summed it up all too nicely.
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Mz.Nikita@ “like an untamed, unchecked spoiled brat with no education in the realm of human decency and respect they will stop at nothing to get (and keep) their way!!”
Yep. Totally agree.
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@Abagond @Sharinair
You are welcome. SInce there are such things as Facebook and Twitter some people like to make fake pictures, for some reason.
@Veronica:
And give such “an untamed, unchecked spoiled brat with no education in the realm of human decency and respect” a gun, and he is a deadly time-bomb.
Without his gun, Hicks couldn’t have done as much damage as he has done now.
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@ Veronica-Indeed!
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@sharinalr,
Thank you. The political leaders in both NC and the country downplay Islamophobia and racist incidents until enough people brought it to attention. The Chapel Hill murders brought attention to racial/religious/gender hatred in America and the world and yet Gov. McCrory chose not to acknowlege nor address Islamophobia and the lynching of the young Black teenager back in December.
It’s of no surprise that white America doesn’t want to acknowlege racist hate crimes because they would have to look long and hard in the mirror to see that they created a whole lot of evil around the world.
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“Chapel Hill Killer’s Rage Went Beyond Parking Dispute”
“By mid-January, friends were becoming convinced that Mr. Hicks was obsessing over the couple, particularly Ms. Abu-Salha. They suspected it had to do with the way she dressed. “If you look at Deah, he looks like your average white guy,” said Nida Allam, a close friend. “But Yusor wears the head scarf. And so does Razan.””
“Ms. Abu-Salha thought that angering him would only make things worse. She had been raised to assume that people were good if given a chance, Ms. Allam said. “Her parents told her just to be nice to him,” she said. “Maybe he’ll change.””
“By sharp contrast, religion was Mr. Barakat and the Abu-Salhas’ lodestar. They woke each morning to offer the predawn Fajr prayer.”
“Beside the door to their apartment was a wooden plaque bearing the Arabic phrase “Alhumdulillah” — thanks be to God.”
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“American Muslim Family’s Home Attacked In The Middle Of The Night”
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/03/17/3634954/18-shots-fired-home-muslim-family-north-carolina-putting-woman-hospital/
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Here’s another article on anti-Muslim hatred in America:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/7-anti-muslim-incidents-happened-chapel-hill-murders
“Here are some of the takeaways from these recent events:
Everything is BIGGER in Texas, even the hate: Much of the anti-Muslim activity taking place recently has come from Texas – a state with one of the largest Muslim populations in America. Last month, a Muslim event in Garland, TX was surrounded with swarms of anti-Muslim protestors – some of them carrying weapons. Protest signs decrying “Sharia Law” and mocking tenets of Islam were widespread throughout the event.
A few weeks later, the hate-fest replicated itself outside a scheduled Muslim Day at the State Capitol in Austin. The event garnered attention after a state legislator, Molly White posted on her Facebook page that Muslim constituents should be required to take a “loyalty oath.” Protestors flooded the Capitol, shouting hateful slogans, even interrupting the event by grabbing the microphone from scheduled speakers.
Texas has been an epicenter for Islamophobia since 9/11, however there has been a significant upswing in demonstrations and anti-Muslim incidents more recently. This upswing in hateful rhetoric has clearly contributed to the hate crimes of the past week.”
Also:
“The media reaction in the aftermath of the Chapel Hill shooting has been very telling in terms of how crimes against Muslims, and crimes that are not committed by Muslims are perceived.
Within hours of the killings, details began emerging as to who exactly the shooter was, and what type of worldview he held. Based on his social media activities and consumer habits – it became clear that Craig Hicks was fixated on guns and gun-culture. He also turned out to hold militant new-atheist beliefs, and viewed all religions with distaste.
If we were to analyze a similar shooting where the perpetrator espoused an iota of Muslim identity on social media – the media narrative would somehow frame this as “terror.” In Craig Hicks’ case, however – the narrative took a different turn: Parking.
Never mind the implausibility of a parking issue resulting in the execution-style murder of an entire family – how is it possible to ignore the anti-Muslim sentiment that was pervading society at the moment of the killings? Many are attempting to paint Hicks as a person with contempt for ALL faiths – and he apparently even “defended the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ in a 2012 social media posting.” Defending a religious liberty issue in 2012 does not preclude an individual from committing a crime based on hate in 2015.
Examine the case of Michael Enright, who traveled to Afghanistan to document the war – even smiling and posing with locals in photographs. He eventually returned to New York City, and slashed a cabbie’s throat after asking if the driver was Muslim.
Even though Hicks will spend the rest of his life behind bars, it is vital that law-enforcement investigate thoroughly as to whether bias contributed to this crime. This will provide much needed closure and justice to the families of the victims – who are certain that his was no mere ‘parking issue.'”
Stephaniegirl/La Reyna
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Speak Out,
I read the story about a shooting at a South Asian family in Charlotte last week. The mainstream media did not report that one as usual. The media in America is a joke that’s why I go to the internet to get news, esp. from independent, non-mainstream, and POC sources.
I wish the family’s recovery and I want to see the perps being brought to justice.
Stephaniegirl/La Reyna
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Chapel Hill Murders Are About More Than a Parking Dispute
CYNTHIA R. GREENLEE FEBRUARY 12, 2015
Fights over space—whether in subways or suburban neighborhoods—are more often contests about privilege.
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(Photo / Jenny Warburg)
Mourners at vigil in The Pit at University of North Carolina/ Chapel Hill on February 11, 2015, where the lives of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Deah Shaddy Barakat, who were killed in Barakat’s apartment, allegedly by neighbor Craig Hicks, who shot each of them in the head.
I have three categories of Facebook friends who are, like me, North Carolinians or University of North Carolina alumni.
The first are deeply crushed by the murder of three young Muslim people in Chapel Hill on Tuesday.
The second group is also horrified, but part — if not most — of their horror derives from their dismay that mass murder could occur in their idyllic and upper-class town.
Then there’s the third group whose members are, at best, are in denial; at worst, they’re willfully blind.
For those unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of my home state, Chapel Hill is known as a mythically progressive oasis in a red state, and it’s squarely in the Triangle, a region known for its concentration of PhDs and creative-class workers.
I lived not far from Finley Forest, the condo neighborhood that Deah Barakat; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha; and her sister, Razan, were killed. For seven years of my life, I enjoyed the perks of Chapel Hill life: food co-ops and granola coffee shops; safe and cheap public transportation; balmy weather; and a cohort of young, intellectually curious, and lively people to call my friends.
I was still wondering if we had a taillight out when he screamed for us to stay in the car and pointed his gun at us.
But my nostalgia for my Chapel Hill years waned considerably when I lived there as a young adult. My partner—a tall, bearded black man with a naturally serious (read: threatening) demeanor—couldn’t walk outside my apartment to enjoy that balmy weather without questioning stares. When a Chapel Hill police officer pulled a gun on us for a routine traffic stop, we didn’t argue. He said we were speeding, but he was the quick one as he drew his weapon the moment he disembarked from his car. I was still wondering if we had a taillight out when he screamed for us to stay in the car and pointed his gun at us. It was an educational moment for me: I grew up among my father’s friends, several of whom were among the first black police officers in my hometown. But it was a wearying repeat for my then-boyfriend, who told me to pipe down when I asked the officer for his badge number.
Perhaps this is the moment that many of my Chapel Hill friends are having: the loss of an illusory community that didn’t exist for many of us. And it may be the first stage of grief: denial that “something like this can happen here” in a place where SAT scores and real-estate prices are high, where, one as one Facebook friend posted, “everyone’s home is your home.” But I no longer felt like Chapel Hill should be my home.
Eventually I moved to Durham, the larger city just down the highway and Chapel Hill’s dark twin—darker in terms of the complexion of its population, and also less idyllic, with more crime and more “inner-city” problems. Polite people say that Durham is “grittier” than Chapel Hill; I remember Chapel Hillians and Durhamites alike acting as if Durham was tantamount to a warzone to be avoided at all costs. But I would never move back to Chapel Hill if someone gave me a key to one of those million-dollar mansions on Franklin Street, the main drag.
Denial may spring from the deep recesses of the unconscious—a protective mechanism that shields us from harsh realities until our minds can make sense of them—but it also comes from willful blindness. And that’s the distinguishing characteristic of my third group of Facebook friends. That final group insists that we should withhold judgment over the causes of Craig Hicks’s mass killing and that, as much of the mainstream media have reported, the shooting was merely the culmination of a parking conflict. They challenge their Facebook friends to prove that Hicks’s fatal action was a hate crime, challenges they couch in terms of rationality, a desire to know all the facts and a belief that the law is the arbiter of fairness.
Parking disputes are rarely just about occupying one asphalt rectangle.
The point they miss is that the rationale for Hicks’s rampage need not amount to an either/or. It’s not hate crime or parking dispute. Parking disputes are rarely just about occupying one asphalt rectangle. Fights over space—whether in subways or suburban neighborhoods—are more often contests about privilege: Who gets to be in this space? Who dictates the use and control of the space? And what happens when people who aren’t like some pre-determined and overdetermined notion of what constitutes “us” gets in our space? A parking crunch—and I acknowledge the rancor that can come when fences have not made good neighbors—did not pull the trigger. A man did, a man we know, at the very least, to have a measure of antipathy toward the religious of all faiths. Of the three people he shot, execution-style, all were observant Muslims, and two were women who wore a style of headscarf that made that clear.
And the fact that many of my Facebook friends are now doing particularly vigorous mental gymnastics to deny that ethnicity, race, or religious identity might have anything to do with this act of violence speaks loudly to the needs of a dominant culture to see itself as bearing no responsibility for hatred in its midst—even in a town where a black man simply driving down the street invites a potentially deadly encounter with the law. And the insistence that Hick’s anti-religious sentiments and Islamophobia, specifically, may not be a culprit in the killings is especially ludicrous in light of recent events at the University of North Carolina’s nearby rival, Duke University; in January, well-intentioned plans to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the campus’s iconic Chapel resulted in a media firestorm largely fueled by conservative Christians and talk radio, threats, and, ultimately, cancellation.
Arbitrarily dismissing North Carolina Muslims’ fears that three young people were killed because they were Muslims does nothing but affirm that Muslim lives don’t matter. Or at least, they don’t matter when we have to dislodge our prejudices and acknowledge that our white-picket-fence towns and our “safe spaces” aren’t safe for everyone.
Stephaniegirl
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Interestingly enough Hicks has defended Muslims in the past and seems to have liked them better than Christians.
And he defended having a mosque “at ground zero”.
He also seemed to be big on minority rights.
He was also big on guns and was apparently obsessed with the movie “falling down” and had anger problems.
Truth is; this guy was simply a ticking time bomb.
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Here’s the facebook page, Our Three Winners:
https://www.facebook.com/ourthreewinners?fref=ts
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@stephaniegirl
Thanks for the articles. Same here, I check POC sources on twitter everyday. Twitter is amazing.
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“American Orientalism”
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/american-orientalism
“In many ways, today’s “undesirable” South Asians are also defined in terms similar to those of a hundred years ago. Like Ansar Mahmood and the workers of Bellingham, those who bore the brunt of special registrations, FBI raids, detentions, and deportations in the years since 9/11, and those most targeted in acts of xenophobic violence, have been recent working-class immigrants—taxi drivers, convenience store clerks, shop workers, gas station attendants—and those who displayed outward markers of their ethnicity and faith. What we now know as the “Islamophobia industry”—the commentators, politicians, church and white supremacist groups, and the think tanks and policy organizations that produce a constant flow of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric—functions much as the Asiatic Exclusion League once did; they trade in the same sorts of fear-mongering and violence.”
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Here’s another article on the attacks and marginalization of Muslim women from a while back:
A Much Needed Conversation on Islamophobia and Muslim Women by Yohanna Berhe.
2.24.15 · GUEST BLOGGER
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Two weeks ago, headlines were rocked by the gruesome murders of Syrian-American Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her younger sister, Razan, 19, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They were gunned down by neighbor Craig Hicks, who is currently in custody on first degree murder charges and awaiting trial. He has referenced “parking dispute” as the reason for his offense, a motive that has been rightfully condemned for its absurdity.
This tragedy has generated a much needed introspective conversation about Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, and how it bodes devastating real-life effects for those on the wrong side of prejudice. Muslims have suffered an alienating form of discrimination after 9/11, with a full spy operative on Islamic centers all over the nation, phone lines tapped, media pundits and news outlets debating on how “American” (read: assimilated) Muslims are, and if Islam, in its very ideological core, is compatible with the Western world. All this in the name of the safety and preservation of an ideal America. Statistics and facts on the mechanisms of violence in the US however, don’t support such a national hysteria. Muslims continue to be underrepresented in demographics relating to violence and in fact, almost 90% of identifiable mass shooters have been White men, predominantly of a Christian background. Regardless of readily abundant information which contests a widely accepted mistruth, Muslims are still coded as unruly and irredeemable, an existential danger to be tackled.
Mohammad Abu Salha, Yusor and Razan’s father stated that although interactions between the Hicks’ household were lukewarm at best, it wasn’t until Yusor moved in after she and Deah wed that the neighbor begin to display frequent bouts of frighteningly aggressive behavior. Yusor expressed discomfort with the man’s approaches towards her, claiming he harassed her prior. Due to Deah’s relative white passing nature, especially in comparison to his hijab observing wife and sister-in-law, he was able to navigate much of the overt Islamophobia that ultimately resulted in these killings.
This reinforces a reality that Muslim women have detailed over the past decade. Hijab wearing women are more physically distinguishable, thus particularly vulnerable over their male counterparts in experiencing Islamophobic sentiments, ranging from obscure microaggressions to full on assault. In an unfortunate irony mainstream feminists have in the past, and currently espouse Islamophobic sentiments, whether it’s Laci Green misquoting Quranic verses to expose textual misogyny or FEMEN caricaturing Islamic traditions and attire to promote a demonization of religious customs, in the name of women’s liberation. For all intents and purposes, it is critical to emphasize Islam’s relative flexibility and due to this, it has been adaptable to time, space and politics. To highlight a singular interpretation and embodiment of Islam is not only ahistorical, but in our current political climate, it is irresponsible and dangerous.
Though Muslim men continue to be maligned as exceptionally misogynistic, Islamophobia is not a gendered bigotry. Muslim women are on the forefront of violence and interrogation as well. Over the past several years since 2001, attacks on Muslims and even those perceived to be Muslim (mainly Sikhs and Hindus) have skyrocketed by at least 500%, though many acts of aggression don’t get investigated as hate crimes. In recent light of ISIS and the Charlie Hebdo incident in France, the perennial juxtaposition of Islam and violence continue to splatter our headlines, again provoking this histrionic query of how safe and malleable the faith and its adherents are, deliberately focusing zero attention to the political conditions in which these groups and actions are born of out of in favor of an ill-regarded scapegoating of faith.
Muslim women, over the past several years have been at the end of an erroneous and exploitative relationship with the imperial gaze. Much Islamophobic rhetoric relies on a tired claim that misogyny in Muslim communities is particularly depraved and unique, thus incomparable to other demographics and worthy of speculation, detached from greater social and economical contexts. Such a fallacy, along with others relating to terrorism, have been cited as the cause of unjust expansionist initiatives, horrendous occupations and debilitating foreign policies. Muslim women all over drone stricken regions have been killed, left destitute, made to outlive their children and lost all their worldly possessions due to the Obama administrations enthusiastic increase of strikes. Since the invasion of Iraq, 1-2 million women have been made widowed either by direct imperial violence or occupation instigated sectarian conflict, which has undoubtedly jeopardized their economic security and psychological well being. Fallujah continues to witness staggering birth defects and child mortality due to US’ deposits of radioactive elements. In rural Yemen where drone strikes remain, PTSD ranges as high as 99% of child population. Needless to say, Muslim women, residing domestically and abroad, bear the brunt of various forms of damage due to post 9/11 initiatives.
In the past couple weeks since these brutal killings, there has been a disappointing, yet expected lack of fervor from those who claim to champion for the rights and safety of women. This says to Muslim women that our narratives are only relevant when used to proliferate Islamophobia, but not to combat it. Inconvenient truths surface now because feminists who have in the past utilized anti-Muslim jargon should critically examine their own complicity in a culture that instigates violent acts against marginalized subjects. Since the Tuesday of the attacks, I’ve had young women tell me in confidence that they aren’t comfortable wearing the hijab anymore and seriously contemplate taking it off, for fear of harassment, assault or worse. In no context should a woman be left with such a daunting choice. In any matter she is, it is a feminist urgency. There’s no justification besides personal bias that the endangerment of hijab observing women is not a top priority.
For as much discourse exists on the coercion of women into hijab, there should be the same resistance towards women being forced out of it. Muslim women are not a homogenous group. Our chronicles and our relationships with our faith, communities and experiences all vary. To project a understanding of our struggles and political trajectory does a severe misdeed to us all. Without this commitment to avoid pathologizing our narrative, mainstream feminism will only serve as an alternate form of marginalization to Muslim women.
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Written by Yohanna Berhe.
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@ Stephaniegirl
Good article. Thanks.
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An atheist kills theists simply for existing… again.
Why did people find this so shocking? Atheism is a man-made delusion that is only believed in by uneducated sheep. It turns normal, decent people into immoral, violent monsters.
Can we have an atheist ban in America instead of a Muslim ban? Please?
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@ No Atheism
“Atheism is a man-made delusion that is only believed in by uneducated sheep. It turns normal, decent people into immoral, violent monsters.”
Please list five violent acts that (known and avowed) atheists have committed globally this year.
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