Maan on the Street: Purdue’s vigil for #OurThreeBoys

In a world overflowing with easy-to-access information, it is difficult to selectively filter our news feeds. In fact, our thumbs get more than enough exercise on a daily basis from scrolling down our phones through long lists of posts on Facebook, Pintrest, Instagram and so on. It’s remarkable how much access we have to information.

It’s even more remarkable how we have become a part of the growth of information too. No matter who you are, you have followers. People can track your activities and follow up on what you are interested in or whatever you post. It’s no surprise we now share news articles and reports with each other through social media.

Still, having control over some media does not mean that we are no longer influenced by other parts of the media we don’t control. With the presidential debates going on currently, it’s getting harder to scroll down Facebook posts to the things that are just slightly more relevant to someone like myself who really doesn’t care about politics.

It is through Facebook that I learned about the horrific murder of three young men in Fort Wayne. The bodies of 17 year old Muhannad Tairab, 20 year old Adam Mekki and 23 year old Mohamed Taha Omar were found with multiple gunshot wounds in an abandoned house somewhere in Fort Wayne, IN. Public Safety Director Rusty York describes their deaths as an “execution style” shooting.

The three boys were remembered well by their acquaintances for their active support of their community. According to Fort Wayne’s Channel 15 news report, former youth center worker Valerie Handschu vividly remembers Adam Mekki and Mohamed Taha Omar showing up at their local youth center almost every day after school. “Never in my wildest dreams would have thought that something this harsh could have happened to sweet kids,” Handschu said.

She describe Mekki as “sweet and genuine.” She said: “He was just full of joy and energy and always had a smile on his face.” As for Omar, she said, “He could make anybody laugh. I think he just got along with everybody in that way and could find a connection with any type of person.”

Their communities confirm that these three boys were not involved with any gangs. Why would this be worth mentioning? Because the three boys are all black American males of Sudanese decent. Every report I read about the incident mentioned the boys’ lack of gang affiliations — it’s a problematic assumption of common opinion.

I identify as an Arab man. As a result, I get “randomly selected” at a bunch of US airports for “security reasons.” It has become an assumption of common opinion that anyone of Arab decent is related to terrorist activity, especially at airports. This treatment extends to anyone who appears to have a predominantly Muslim background. Actually, some people in the Fort Wayne area are debating whether or not the murder is an Islamophobic hate crime as only two of the boys were Muslim. Really, it’s all murder. The tag #OurThreeBoys has been used amid this tragedy to speak to how these were three young men, basically boys lost within their community because of mindless violence.

My views on race and religion are not so well defined. I find it hard to tell racism when I see it (at least definitively).  That said, my views on murder is that it is wrong on a fundamental, human level. I also do not believe it takes any rules or guidelines to understand the fallacy behind justifying murder. It just takes empathy.

 

Maan On The Street:

To show empathy for the loss of Muhannad, Adam and Mohammed, the Students for Justice in Palestine at Purdue held a candlelight vigil in their memory. One of the students on the board actually knew one of the victims. After attending the vigil, I asked for opinions on the topic. I asked some attendees why they were there and why they thought it was important to have such events.

 

Rohit Bhonagiri, Senior in Political Science

“There’s a kind of disturbance in the climate. It’s a little vulnerable and hostile everywhere. Even with the recent presidential candidates, it’s getting hostile. I feel the more we are involved in our communities we’ll learn more. Go to candlelight vigils just to educate yourself, learn and understand. There is more than one view, that’s why I’m here.”

 

Sarah Abdelsalam, Sophomore in Elementary Education

“Personally I’m here because I’m Sudanese and I knew the cousin of one of the guys that was shot, so it hit pretty deep. I related to this guy, who is a Muslim Sudanese guy. It’s such a big thing to worry about. Even Chapel Hill, we had to get the word across with that as well. This needs to be heard. That’s why it’s important to come out here, and that’s why I came here.”

 

Munirah Al Naimi, Senior in Communications

“I think something like this is important because it is a tragedy. It hasn’t been covered fairly through the media. It happened to two Muslim boys and one Christian. They’re all black. So it combines all the things that the media does not focus on. If it was three other white boys murdered ‘execution style,’ it would be on every single news headline. These are still lives. These are still souls. They are brothers and they are sons. And their lives have been lost.”

 

Brianna Largent, Senior in Visual Arts

“I’m here because three people were killed, and that in itself is just awful. I think [religion] had something to do with it, but even if it doesn’t, the point is there is a lot of fear around people who look foreign, people who don’t look ‘American.’ It’s creating this tension between people. As a result, people are being killed. It’s only because we don’t understand, and we let our fear take control of our actions. Replacing compassion, love and this desire to learn about other people. I have a lot of friends that are foreign to the US and I don’t want to be ignorant of the fact that my friends are being judged and persecuted because of their religion or where they come from. It’s not just Muslims or people from the Middle East. It’s everyone who looks different.”

In a world overflowing with easy-to-access information, it is difficult to selectively filter our news feeds. In such a world, it is difficult to follow up on this kind of news. Whether or not the murder of these three young men says anything about the state of the world we live in or not, this is the kind of news I would like to share with you on this moment. Thanks for scrolling down.