On Wednesday, Feb. 24, three African American men, Mohamedtaha Omar (23), Muhannad Tairab (17) who were Muslim, and Adam Mekki (20) who was Christian, were found dead inside a house in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Although all three men were shot execution style, the Fort Wayne Police claim “(The) investigation of triple homicide is still very active and ongoing but determined to have not been a hate crime.” As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, the people are appalled at how there is little to no media coverage on this matter.
When I google search “Fort Wayne shooting” three articles pop up, one of which had nothing to do with the incident. Yes, I’m offended, but I’m not at all surprised. I would bet my house if they were three white boys shot in the head there would be a ridiculous amount of media coverage. Muslims only seem to matter when they’re behind the gun, not in front of it.
It seems like more and more people are finding out about the shooting, but not through newspaper or a news station, but through the hashtag #OurThreeBoys. How has it come to that social media does a better job reporting and spreading the news like this, rather than the people who get payed to do this?
The lack of media coverage isn’t solely the only thing offending me, it’s how the police claim it’s not a hate crime. You could argue that maybe it wasn’t hatred against Muslims, but, those three men were black and one can’t argue that they aren’t being targeted.
“Even in the army, it was never really right to execute somebody. If it’s a capital punishment that’s a different story. I find it very interesting that I read the Wall Street Journal everyday and watch the news at 4;30 or 5 in the morning and I didn’t see anything about this,” says former soldier and current Assistant Principal Mark Rigby.
Rigby isn’t the only one in distress.
“Islam is a religion of love and compassion. The word Islam is actually derived from the word meaning peace in Arabic. So saying it is a violent is absolutely absurd,”junior Buraq Sukhera said. “We should not be judged as a whole for actions done by a few. If people were to actually learn more about the religion instead of eating up whatever the media is feeding them they would be very surprised and wouldn’t view the religion as violent or dangerous at all. It most definitely is a hate crime. Those kids were black and Muslim-two groups that receive an immense amount of negative attention and racism. So why is not considered a hate crime? Is it because they were black? Or Muslim? Or both? It’s not fair at all and I honestly do believe if they weren’t black or Muslim this would’ve exploded and the media would’ve broadcasted this much more. And again that is very saddening because at the end of the day we’re all human beings with needs and emotions. We all eat,breathe,sleep,talk,walk, laugh,feel,smile,love, and the list goes on. But why are some of us treated differently because of the pigmentation of their skin or because of the way the media portrays a minority of us. Why do we have to be a certain color or have to be a specific religion for people to realize we are humans too and we feel just as everyone else does. And Ironically our first Amendment is the freedom of religion our ancestors came here to avoid religious persecution so It’s completely immoral and their is no place for this kind of behavior in our country or anywhere in the world. It’s heartbreaking but I have not lost hope in society. Because at the end of the day we are all human and we all have hearts and one day I truly do believe we’ll all be able to come together and love each other for who we truly are.”
It’s not just Muslims or African Americans upset, as more people find out they’re in utter disbelief.
“The media has a lot to do with racial profiling Muslims. I believe it influences stereotypes not just with Muslim people, but every race,” junior Marissa Scarbro said. As a non Muslim, I feel affected by this discrimination because I have had friends and currently have friends that are Muslim. It saddens me to think that a person or friend I know could have a hate crime committed against them. Just hearing of the stories through media and hearing the words coming out of Trump’s mouth about Muslims wearing some sort of I.D makes me so upset. It seems as if Islamophobia is the new Anti-Semitism. Stopping Syrian Muslim refugees from entering the country is overall wrong. People willing to come to live in the United States and contribute should always be welcome and never be turned away. Lots of Americans aren’t even willing to put forth the effort in contributing to our country. The United States of America is “The Land of the Free” for a reason, but now we have to question if it really is.”
People always argue “why is it #BlackLivesMatter or why is it #MuslimLivesMatter, it should be #AllLivesMatter.” When a certain group of people are being targeted their live tends to take precedence over others. Yes, everyone’s lives matter but when a black person is killed every 28 hours, we need to recognize they are human being just like us, they have families to go home to and they have dreams and aspirations just like everyone else. If any media outlets are reading this article, it’s a shame that this might only be the fourth article on that pops up on this incident, but it’s better than none.
