Meaning from the Tragedy
13/02/15 05:28
Our son earned his masters degree at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He was married in Chapel Hill. He and his young wife lived in a small apartment building there. We were fortunate to be able to visit them a few times in that short period of their lives, helping them with the move down, going down for their wedding, and making another trip by renting a car and driving to Chapel Hill as part of a trip to attend a meeting in Atlanta. As proud parents we also made a trip there to attend our son’s graduation. Chapel Hill isn’t a bad place for a young couple to start out their lives. It is a university community, with plenty of rental housing. It is a diverse community with all kinds of different churches and religious institutions. Our son and his wife were able to find a United Church of Christ congregation that welcomed them and provided a place for their wedding and reception as well as some listening ears and home-like fellowship for them as they lived far from the places where they grew up and attended college.
One small incident stands out from their time in Chapel Hill. On the morning of our son’s graduation ceremony they woke to find the window of their car smashed. Apparently it was a kind of robbery attempt. The glove compartment and other areas in the car had their contents scattered around the car’s interior. Being college students, however, they had nothing in the car to steal. The car was insured and a glass company was able to send out a mobile unit to replace the window. It was just one of those things that happens. You get over it and move on.
I don’t know why, but I thought of that broken car window and the senselessness of that crime this week when I read the story of the murders of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, her husband Deah Shaddy Barakat, and her sister Razan. The three young adults, aged 19 to 23, were all shot in the head and killed.
The police investigation into the murders is on-going, but apparently there is little question about who committed the crime. Craig Stephen Hicks has been arrested. He turned himself in after the deaths and has been charged. Apparently, shortly after 5 pm on Tuesday he went to his neighbors’ apartment and shot the three people inside. They all died.
What is less clear is why he did it. One police report stated that it was the continuation of a dispute over parking. The family of the victims and many who have posted responses to news stories and participate in social media believe that the crime was a response to the religion of the victims. All three were Muslims of Arab descent. The women were religious and wore head scarves when they went out in public. It was easy to identify their religion by their appearance.
Those who knew Hicks said he had a hatred of all religion.His wife described him as a person who would not have killed three people because of their religion. His ex-wife described him as a man with a dangerous temper and confrontational behavior who lacked compassion. She described him watching the film “Falling Down” in which a disgruntled employee goes on a shooting rampage over and over again. He thought the movie was funny. Even if the start of the rage had something to do with parking, killing three people over a parking dispute is way outside of the normal range of behavior. The attorney of his wife suggested that mental illness was a factor in the shooting.
I am not confident that we will learn what happened from the news. It is hard to piece together the facts of what happened. Figuring out the motivation is even more complex. Press reports are sensationalist and the public interest will fade long before investigators have collected all of the evidence. Even thought, the key piece of evidence - eyewitnesses to the shooting - is forever lost. And the mental state of the shooter may never be fully known.
What I read this morning, however, did open my eyes a bit. Story Corps, an oral history project that records conversations between people all over the United States, recorded a conversation between Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha last summer. The project has recorded tens of thousands of interviews, kept by those who participated on CDs and archived in the Library of Congress. North Carolina public radio station WUNC published Abu-Salha’s Story Corps interview.
“Although in some ways I do stand out, such as the hijab I wear on my head, the head covering, there are still so many ways I feel embedded in the fabric that is our culture. It’s so beautiful to see people of different areas interacting and being family, being community.”
The interview took place before Abu-Salha’s marriage. She and her husband were married in December, just over a month before their deaths.
The StoryCorps interview is less than 10 minutes long. In it Abu-Salha asked her teacher what she would say if she had the whole world’s attention. The answer was, “Live in peace, that’s what I would say. Make this world a place where everybody has the right to live and we don’t fight over our differences but learn to accept our differences.”
OK teacher. You’ve got our attention. I live 1,700 miles from Chapel Hill. (I know I drove the round-trip journey twice.) And I have heard your words. And I know the truth of what you have said.
This world is not yet a place where everybody has the right to live. Three bullets into the heads of three victims has robbed them of their right to live. I, for one, have decided not to focus my attention on their murderer. I’ll trust the law enforcement officials and court system and penal system to deal with him.
My job is to tell the story of the victims and proclaim the message of the teacher of one of them. “Live in peace. Make this world a place where everybody has the right to live and we don’t fight over our differences but learn to accept our differences.”
It is a good message for those of us who live in Rapid City, South Dakota today. It is a good message for the world.
One small incident stands out from their time in Chapel Hill. On the morning of our son’s graduation ceremony they woke to find the window of their car smashed. Apparently it was a kind of robbery attempt. The glove compartment and other areas in the car had their contents scattered around the car’s interior. Being college students, however, they had nothing in the car to steal. The car was insured and a glass company was able to send out a mobile unit to replace the window. It was just one of those things that happens. You get over it and move on.
I don’t know why, but I thought of that broken car window and the senselessness of that crime this week when I read the story of the murders of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, her husband Deah Shaddy Barakat, and her sister Razan. The three young adults, aged 19 to 23, were all shot in the head and killed.
The police investigation into the murders is on-going, but apparently there is little question about who committed the crime. Craig Stephen Hicks has been arrested. He turned himself in after the deaths and has been charged. Apparently, shortly after 5 pm on Tuesday he went to his neighbors’ apartment and shot the three people inside. They all died.
What is less clear is why he did it. One police report stated that it was the continuation of a dispute over parking. The family of the victims and many who have posted responses to news stories and participate in social media believe that the crime was a response to the religion of the victims. All three were Muslims of Arab descent. The women were religious and wore head scarves when they went out in public. It was easy to identify their religion by their appearance.
Those who knew Hicks said he had a hatred of all religion.His wife described him as a person who would not have killed three people because of their religion. His ex-wife described him as a man with a dangerous temper and confrontational behavior who lacked compassion. She described him watching the film “Falling Down” in which a disgruntled employee goes on a shooting rampage over and over again. He thought the movie was funny. Even if the start of the rage had something to do with parking, killing three people over a parking dispute is way outside of the normal range of behavior. The attorney of his wife suggested that mental illness was a factor in the shooting.
I am not confident that we will learn what happened from the news. It is hard to piece together the facts of what happened. Figuring out the motivation is even more complex. Press reports are sensationalist and the public interest will fade long before investigators have collected all of the evidence. Even thought, the key piece of evidence - eyewitnesses to the shooting - is forever lost. And the mental state of the shooter may never be fully known.
What I read this morning, however, did open my eyes a bit. Story Corps, an oral history project that records conversations between people all over the United States, recorded a conversation between Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha last summer. The project has recorded tens of thousands of interviews, kept by those who participated on CDs and archived in the Library of Congress. North Carolina public radio station WUNC published Abu-Salha’s Story Corps interview.
“Although in some ways I do stand out, such as the hijab I wear on my head, the head covering, there are still so many ways I feel embedded in the fabric that is our culture. It’s so beautiful to see people of different areas interacting and being family, being community.”
The interview took place before Abu-Salha’s marriage. She and her husband were married in December, just over a month before their deaths.
The StoryCorps interview is less than 10 minutes long. In it Abu-Salha asked her teacher what she would say if she had the whole world’s attention. The answer was, “Live in peace, that’s what I would say. Make this world a place where everybody has the right to live and we don’t fight over our differences but learn to accept our differences.”
OK teacher. You’ve got our attention. I live 1,700 miles from Chapel Hill. (I know I drove the round-trip journey twice.) And I have heard your words. And I know the truth of what you have said.
This world is not yet a place where everybody has the right to live. Three bullets into the heads of three victims has robbed them of their right to live. I, for one, have decided not to focus my attention on their murderer. I’ll trust the law enforcement officials and court system and penal system to deal with him.
My job is to tell the story of the victims and proclaim the message of the teacher of one of them. “Live in peace. Make this world a place where everybody has the right to live and we don’t fight over our differences but learn to accept our differences.”
It is a good message for those of us who live in Rapid City, South Dakota today. It is a good message for the world.