Islamophobia

Healing After #ChapelHillShooting

Until Yusor Abu-Salha, her husband Deah Barakat and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, three young people who practice the Muslim faith, were shot to death on February 10, 2015 in Chapel Hill, many of us likely had not thought much about Islamophobia or that our community, one of the most liberal in the state, might harbor such sentiments. But we are not immune, as a search for the hashtag #NotsafeUNC will bare out. For example, at the time of these murders, I was teaching a course at UNC that happened to have two Muslim students enrolled. They were both close friends of the young people who were murdered. As my TAs and I worked to accommodate our students’ need to grieve and deal with the fear brought on by these hate killings, we heard that not all Muslim students at UNC were met with compassion.

Challenging Islamophobia at UNC Chapel Hill

POC Takeover of the Quad rally members
POC Takeover of the Quad rally members

When David Horotwitz was invited by UNC College Republicans to speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill just two months after the murders of three Muslim youth in Chapel Hill, it caused alarm among the Muslim community and their allies at UNC and the greater Triangle area. Mr. Horowtiz has been documented as a prominent Islamophobic speaker in the USA by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for American Progress. During his speech at UNC, Mr. Horotwitz characterized Arabs as racist, linked student organizations Muslim Students Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to terrorism, and implied Palestinians should be attacked with nuclear weapons.

 

Community Guidelines

By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.

 

Content license

By contributing to OrangePolitics, you agree to license your contributions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

 
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.