Chapel Hill Victims Vigil

A candle light vigil to pray for the fallen victims of the Chapel Hill Shooting: Deah Barakat, Yusor Barakat, Razan Abu-Salah. Please come out to honor their memory and stand for justice in the midst of such a travesty. On Tuesday, February 10th, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 3 Muslim Americans were shot in the head. They were aspiring college students, ages 23, 21, and 19. Deah Barakat was a 23 year old student in his second year at the University of North Carolina's School of Dentistry; he and his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, were recently married in December. Sister Yusor, 21 years old, was also planning on beginning dentistry school this fall. The last victim was the sister of Yusor- 19 year old Razan Abu-Salha. She was a sophomore at NCSU studying architecture and environmental design after graduating from Athens Drive High School in Raleigh in 2013. The sad part is that much of their story was overlooked by media outlets when the incident first occurred. There is debate whether the incident occurred because of a dispute over a parking spot or if it was a hate crime. Regardless of what the issue was, not only were these Muslim lives that were taken, they were HUMAN lives that were taken away from us. The vigil at UTD is not only to send our prayers and respect to the family and the victims, but as an opportunity to discuss how we can use dialogue as an opportunity to slowly correct the misconceptions about Islam, and how we can channel our emotions to convey positive messages about what we CAN do to help improve our society. Furthermore, this is a chance for the community to come together and take a stand against injustice. The victims who passed away were OUR age. This is very close to home. They were Muslims in America and it is truly saddening to hear that members of our Ummah were the victims of such an act. Please share this event, raise the awareness, come out and support. It is once again a moment where we need to stand in solidarity and speak out against injustice. These were not just Muslim lives. There were Human lives. If you would like to speak please post on the page. #OurThreeWinners #ChapelHillShooting