Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Muslim Advocates issued a statement urging President Obama and Attorney General Holder to publicly condemn these acts of violence.
Please join this request – anti-Muslim hate is reaching a crisis point in our nation and the public needs to hear a strong message that violence like this will not be tolerated.
Feel free to contact Mohamed Sabur at Muslim Advocates with any question at mohamed@muslimadvocates.org.
February 13, 2015
The Honorable Eric Holder Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530
Dear Attorney General Holder,
The undersigned civil rights, faith, community and advocacy groups are deeply saddened by the tragic killing of three vibrant young, Arab-‐American Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, earlier this week. We write to urge you to open a full and rigorous federal hate crime investigation and to publicly condemn this heinous attack.
Deah Shaddy Barakat (23 years old), his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-‐Salha (21 years old), and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-‐Salha (19 years old), were brutally murdered in their home in Chapel Hill on the evening of Tuesday, February 10. Chapel Hill police have arrested Craig Stephen Hicks, a neighbor of the young students, and charged him with three counts of first-‐degree murder. Though details about this incident continue to unfold, many accounts suggest that these attacks were motivated by hate. Some have suggested that this incident was the culmination of an ongoing parking dispute between the neighbors. The family of the victims, however, has strongly refuted that a parking dispute was the motive for the crime. The father of the Abu-‐Salha sisters said that Mr. Hicks “picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far.” The circumstances surrounding this incident—previous threats by Mr. Hicks, combined with the sentiment expressed in Mr. Hicks’ social media posts—warrant a federal hate crime investigation.
These killings come in the wake of a disturbing rise in especially threatening and vitriolic anti-‐Muslim rhetoric and activities. In recent weeks, after the release of the movie American Sniper, many tweeted hateful and deplorable messages demeaning to Muslims and Arabs. For example, one user tweeted that the film “makes me wanna go shoot some f**kin Arabs,” while another stated that “American sniper made me appreciate soldiers 100x more and hate Muslims 1000000x more.” On Saturday, January 17, 2015, outside a Muslim community event in Garland, Texas, hundreds of protesters shouted hateful messages and comments at attendees. Some of the protesters brandished guns, creating a threatening and hostile environment for families attending the event. Also, last month, a podcast host based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suggested over Twitter that his readers look up a list of mosques and Islamic schools in the United States (he provided them a link to a community website that compiles the names and locations of these institutions) and then attack them with guns and other heavy ammunition pictured in his tweet.
With hate crimes against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim alarmingly on the rise in recent years, your leadership is crucial to help stem the tide of hate. We urge you to open a full and rigorous federal hate crime investigation into the killing of the three Muslim students. We further urge you to hold a press conference announcing the investigation and/or an indictment relating to this vicious attack. Federal leadership is necessary in this case in order to send the strongest message to the public that acts of violence like these have no place in a civil society and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This would be the first time, to our knowledge, that a U.S. Attorney General has held a press conference to announce a federal investigation or indictment of a potential hate crime against members of the American Muslim, Arab, Sikh or South Asian communities.
The heinous attack in Chapel Hill is being deeply felt throughout the American Muslim community. As American Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim now, more than ever, fear for their safety, the American people need to hear a strong message from our nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
9to5
Academi Watch
ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) Advancing Justice | AAJC
Afghan Student Association
African American Islamic Institute (AAII) AKNY – Greece Solidarity Movement Al-Awda Cleveland
American Arab Forum
American Association of People with Disabilities American Center for Outreach
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Arab American Association of New York Arab American Institute
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles Association of Muslim American Lawyers
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DRUM – South Asian Organizing Center Duke Islamic Studies Center
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Georgia Association of Muslim Lawyers Georgia Tech Muslim Students Association Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network Hikmah Institute
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Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights Interfaith Center of New York
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OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates Parliament of the World’s Religions
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South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) South Asian Bar Association of North America Southeast Immigrant Rights Network
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The Majlis Ash-Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of Metropolitan New York The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood
The Muslim Alliance in North America
The Muslim Students Association of US and Canada (MSA National) The Northern California Islamic Council
The Organization of North American Shia Ithnasheri Muslim Communities (NASIMCO) The Sikh Coalition
UAW 2865
UC Berkeley Muslim Student Association UNITED SIKHS
United Voices for America Universal Knowledge Institute
Universal Muslim Association of America US Human Rights Network
Voices For Freedom Wellspring Endowment Women In Islam, Inc. Young Muslims
YWCA USA
Media Contacts:
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P.O. Box 6262, Monroe, NJ 08831
Email: pr@muslims4peace.org