I woke up this morning to stories of tragedy flooding my Facebook and my mom telling me that she loves me. She restated what I have heard a million times now, "please be careful of what you write on your blog, these are not safe times. "
The first heart- wrenching news story I heard of was about a family of Muslims that were shot "execution-style" while in their home by a neighbor. The victims were three students, "Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha." All three were activists, philanthropists, and very visible in their community. The news outlets barely reported on it, while the few reports that did surface depicted the act as violence that may have been caused over "parking disputes". The victims' families and friends have asserted that the neighbor had been picking on the young couple for awhile. A friend recalled a time when the neighbor showed up at the couple's doorstep with a rifle, complaining about noise. It was a clear intimidation technique used to threaten the family.
I remember being scared of her not because of the hurtful things she was saying, but because she clearly hated me for just being me.
The horrific news of a black trans woman named, Penny Proud who was fatally shot in New Orleans also broke today. Unfortunately there is very little being reported on Proud which makes it difficult to talk about her life. I wish I knew more about Penny's life story and could write more about this young woman. If she's anything like her namesake from the show Proud Family , she must have been an amazing individual. She is one of five trans women who have been killed this year alone and we are less than two months into 2015. This is a troubling and terrifying trend. Many media outlets also grossly mishandled this story by misgendering Penny.
In my opinion both incidents are hate crimes, but what makes it even more difficult for marginalized groups is the shallow definition of the term, "hate-crime". When I looked up the definition on www.justice.gov it showed how difficult it is for something to be labeled a hate-crime in a court of law. In fact there was no direct statutes that addressed them specifically until 2009 according to this site. This leaves victims in a vulnerable position. These victims were specifically targeted and sought out. Just because it isn't labeled as a hate-crime by the media or law enforcement that does not mean that one wasn't committed.
We need to hold law enforcement and the media to a higher standard when discussing crimes against people of color. I wish the investigations focused more on the insidious motives of the killers rather than what part the victims may have played in getting themselves killed. The media and police seem much more preoccupied with the latter. This is sick. The delay in media coverage or lack of media coverage shows that when a non-white, non-Christian person dies, we need to scream to get the world's attention. The same people who ignored us before will turn around and say, "Oh my gosh why are you screaming?" And when the murdered finally get acknowledged, they are disrespected so blatantly by the racist institutions that are present.
The more visible people in marginalized groups become the more they put themselves at risk.
If we want to live in a world where we don't fear for our kids, we need to stand up to all injustice. We need to make sure it is safe for all kids. We need to stand up for Black lives, Muslim lives and trans lives. Especially since there is a lot of misogyny,homophobia, transphobia and Anti-Black racism present in some of our own Muslim communities.
The change will have to be on an institutional level, since the oppression is. Certain groups are treated differently under the law and by enforcers of the law. There is disproportionate rate at which Muslim organizations and Muslim citizens are under surveillance in the United States. A black male is "six times as likely as all white men to be incarcerated in federal, state and local jails" . There are also no laws that protect a transgender person from being fired for who they are according to the Human Rights Campaign site .
Our sympathies should not be exclusive to Western lives lost either. We need to be advocates for Syrian refugees and the people in Gaza. We need to rally against Western intervention as well as drone strikes that kill civilians in countries like Pakistan and Yemen.
...bringing awareness to one cause should not be subduing another cause...
It's difficult to know what you can do when these tragedies occur, it's easy to feel helpless. We can make a conscious decision to never forget these names and souls, whose lives were cut short purely due to hate. Deah, Yusor, Razan, Penny, Trayvon, Mike, Kayla, Mohammed and Eric the system built on prejudice, exploitation, imperialism, bigotry, violence, hate and retaliation failed you and we will remember you. I will remember you.
***In the wake of these tragedies it is important to take care of yourself and to practice self-love. Please reach out if you need to talk.***
Resources:
The Trevor Project Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: 1-866-488-7386
Please email [email protected]. Leave your number and we will return your email within 2 hours with a time that someone will be able to speak with you.