Slain Yusor Abu-Salha speaks: "We're all one culture"

[Pogo]

"Growing up in America has been such a blessing. And 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 that I feel so embedded in the fabric that is, you know, our culture.

"And that's the beautiful thing here, is that it doesn't matter where you come from. There's so many different people from so many different places, of different backgrounds and religions — but here we're all one, one culture. And it's beautiful to see people of different areas interacting, and being family. Being, you know, one community."​

-- These were the words of Yusor Abu-Salha, who along with her sister and husband were shot to death execution-style in their home in Chapel Hill (NC) Tuesday.

Her voice (not linkable but there's a player on this page) was recorded several months ago in an interview for the Story Corps oral history project incorporating ruminations of people on what life has taught them. It's poignant to hear her thoughts, in her own voice, considering how that life was taken from her.

 

[Pogo]

And you haters who continuously rail on this board about how "all (Muslims, Christians, blacks, whites, reds, yellows, browns, Jews, women, men, children, Mexicans, gays, lesbians, etc) are an evil that must be exterminated --- walk proud. Because this is exactly where that shit leads.

Own it.

 

[Pogo]

"I understand people look down on our religion. They think a lot of things, like we are terrorists. People don’t understand us Muslims are embarrassed of these people who are using Islam in bad ways to justify being cruel. Yusor and Deah represented a big part of our community—they were two good Muslims. Yusor believes in her religion. She is peaceful and she was raised well. She chose a healthy way of life. We weren’t extreme. We are the middle path. We aren’t strict on stuff outside of the head covering. I think there is a lot of misinterpretation of what Islam is.

I can’t understand why someone would hate them enough to kill them.

I read articles about this guy and they say he’s an atheist, but I don’t really know if that’s the connection the media makes it out to be. I’m not really sure if he thinks his act is justified.

...
I have so many questions for Hicks.

I know that he’s an aggressive man. That’s not the first we’ve heard from him. Hicks was their neighbor.

In October or November, we went to dinner at Yusor and Deah’s house. Right after we left, Yusor heard a knock at the door and it was Hicks. She told us he was angry and said we were noisy and there were two extra cars in the neighborhood. We used visitor parking but he was still mad. He said we woke up his wife. It wasn’t that dark yet. It wasn’t late. And it wasn’t that loud. We were playing a board game called Risk. I mean, I know I was mad because they were beating me at the game, but that was it. While he was at the door talking to Yusor, he was holding a rifle, she told me later. He didn’t point it at anyone, but he still had it. Yusor called to check on us after we left, to make sure he hadn’t approached us. We thought that was so weird—our neighbors don’t come to the door with guns! So when I heard the news it was shocking, but it wasn’t a surprise that it was the neighbor.

When I heard the news report and drove down there from Raleigh, I hoped it wasn’t anyone I knew. But I saw the apartment on the news and it was his apartment. If it wasn’t a hate crime, what was it? If you have a problem with your neighbors, you write a letter; you don’t shoot people. I think they were targeted because they were different. He was always so annoyed with them for little things. They are talking about a parking dispute online—that’s definitely not true. There’s plenty of space, and Deah had just gotten off the bus. I wonder if he just thought Deah was some white guy before his wife moved in.

Deep down everyone in this community knows it was a hate crime. But how do you prove it?

I have so many questions for him.

She’s so young. Would you not let her blossom a bit more? What went through your mind? I mean, as you pulled the trigger you clearly killed people. You killed one, then you killed a second time, a third time. And you walked away from the scene. You took three young people. I don’t know if he has kids but how could you do that to someone’s child? And then just walk away. What is his motive? I wonder what would have happened if we were there? Would he have killed us all, since we were a bunch of hijabis? I can’t imagine. I have so many questions I don’t know how to word them all. And I want to know exactly what happened, all the details. I need to know.

I used to speak to her every day, we won’t be able to do that anymore. He took so much—from me, from this family, from this community. You saw the people coming out [for the vigils]. You see how loved, how respected they were. We all have to suffer this loss, and for what? If the roles were reversed you would have a huge terrorist problem in the headline. That’s the funny thing...."
​

-- Amira Ata: My Best Friend was Killed And I Don't Know Why

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

And you haters who continuously rail on this board about how "all (Muslims, Christians, blacks, whites, reds, yellows, browns, Jews, women, men, children, Mexicans, gays, lesbians, etc) are an evil that must be exterminated --- walk proud. Because this is exactly where that shit leads.

Own it.

I'm in an interracial marriage and both of us detest despicable race-baiting maggots like you, Pogo.

"No one can hate like a faggot can hate."--Truman Capote

 

[Pogo]

Uhh... where do you see "race-baiting"?

If that's any kind of baiting it's "bigot-baiting".
Only you know why you take it personally.

So let's see -- you don't like what I wrote anti-bigotry, that makes you....

 

[Pogo]

Some of today's buzz from the North Carolina university community....

"Fouzia Noor, a junior in biomedical engineering at ECU, said she was happy to hear about ECU’s vigil to honor the three. Noor said she grew up in Pakistan where she spent 21 years fearing she would be killed by extremists and she could not believe something like this happened so close.

“I was shocked at first,” she said. “I didn’t expect that this would happen. It’s common in those parts of the world (where I grew up). It happens, but I’m not expecting it here. It’s sad, but since here we do have law, the law prevails. … But still it’s scary. We should stop it right away.”

Noor said she has a friend who was an acquaintance of Barakat and his wife. She said her friend described them as energetic, lively people who wanted to change the world.

ECU student Durkhanai Khan, a member of Muslim Student Association, said during the vigil that she grew up with Barakat’s family. She said every Friday when she would go to prayer in Mooresville, Barakat would spend several hours raising money for charity. She said Yusor and Razan also were constantly doing charity work.

“They do humanitarian work and have impacted so many people around community, states and countries,” Khan said. “When I see them three, the Barakat family and Abu-Salhas, I see Islam. This is the true example of Muslims in our religion.”

She encouraged people from all backgrounds to come together and unify after the tragedy. “We the people must unite together as one, respect and love one another, human to human,” Khan said. “If we are all together and create love, nothing will come between us.”

---ECU (East Carolina University) Daily Reflector
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