Adrian Suarez Avila/ News Director
In light of the slaying of three Muslim students near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus, FIU’s division of the Muslim Students Association will be hosting events throughout the week to raise awareness on the incident.
The MSA hosted events on Monday, Feb. 16 and Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Graham Center at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, passing out flyers and informing passersby on the details of the shooting.
The notion that Islamophobia can negatively impact the lives of Muslims living in the United States and how it damages the reputation of the relations the MSA tries to protect was also discussed.
Adnan Samma, a senior studying economics and international relations and a member of the MSA, said that the tabling events are also geared toward informing students on Islamophobia and the negative effects that it can have on the perception that people develop on Muslims.
Samma added that the MSA at the University does its best to promote the image of Islam to non-Muslims and dispel the misconceptions the media provides today to the public regarding Muslims.
The secretary of the MSA, Nandee Shabazz, a junior studying political science and international relations, believes that it’s important to address the issue of the media’s portrayal of Muslims.
Shabazz feels that the media is desensitizing the issue, adding that when media outlets make mention of Muslims or Islam, issues regarding terrorism are usually discussed.
She mentioned that with the media’s commonly negative portrayal of the religion, when people hear of the recent killings of Deah Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha they may not come to consider the possibility that the victims were innocent, and instead develop the notion that they were looking for trouble, considering that they may be involved with radical activities, the types that the media covers as taking place abroad or throughout the country even.
As Adnan stated it, Muslims are a minority in the United States, one with a history spanning back to the early origins of the nation with the Transatlantic slave trade.
Like most minority groups, according to Adnan, Muslims have a history of being oppressed.
He referenced the George Zimmerman case, calling attention to the fact that the case involved the death of Trayvon Martin, a minority.
For Adnan, the MSA tries its best to promote the beliefs of the Islamic community and tries to coexist with Christians and members of other religious faiths in the nation.
Some students shared their views.
Joshua William Seidler, a junior majoring in Japanese area studies, believes that raising awareness is one way of helping prevent these incidents from happening.
“Like most stereotypes, the way that people are viewed is not really accurate,” he said. “Not everyone is like every single person of the same race or the same religion.”
According to the Haaretz Daily Newspaper, the authorities in Chapel Hill have not yet been able to find evidence definitively pointing that 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks committed a crime based on hate towards Muslims.
While the victims’ family members stress the idea that Hicks acted out of hate, for now the FBI is working on a “parallel preliminary inquiry” to conclude whether or not any laws regarding hate crimes were violated.
It is reported that although North Carolina does not enforce any statutes concerning hate crimes, it does enforce those involving ethnic intimidation, which include hanging nooses, or setting fire to sites of religious worship.
The tabling event will continue today, Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 1 to 3 p.m. in GC.
On Thursday, Feb. 19, the MSA will continue working on its awareness campaign for the week in the GC Lawns to collect funds for Project Downtown and the efforts that Barakat worked toward to provide dental care to refugees in Turkey.
A non-governmental organization, Project Downtown aims to provide aid to the homeless. Keeping with Barakat’s philanthropic efforts, the MSA will be delivering dental packages to the homeless in the Downtown area.
Barakat worked tirelessly to raise money in the hope of providing dental care to Syrian refugees in Turkey, according to CNN.
As of now, the Syrian Dental Relief page, which was set up by Barakat and Ali Heydary on YouCaring.com, has been able to raise over $426,000.
Adnan says that while the campaign to raise awareness on the shootings will not be a direct focus of the MSA’s Islamic Awareness Week during the first week of March, the issue will nonetheless be paid attention to.
That week’s events will be working towards eliminating the misconceptions of Islam.
“The University is a very changing environment where students are enlightened and are able to conduct procedures where change can be [implemented],” said Adnan in relation to the events’ importance.
Shabazz stressed that it’s important to be educated on these types of issues, mentioning that in today’s society change doesn’t regularly happen.
“If we want things to change [then] it has to come from us,” she said.
Commenting on the recent shootings, Shabazz said that it’s imperative to let everyone know that the community is not going to stand for injustice anywhere.
She believes that as humans we have a duty to stand up for one another.
“We’re all human, and what happens to a Muslim should affect the way a Christian or a Jew or an Atheist thinks because no matter what their religion is, they’re human also.”
To coordinate this week’s events, the MSA is working with Students for Justice in Palestine, a campus organization for Palestinian rights, and the Arab Student Union.
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