Outraged social media users have started the hashtag “Muslim Lives Matter” in response to the perceived lack of media coverage of the murder of three American Muslim students.
While authorities in North Carolina work to determine the motive behind the shooting deaths of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, the attack has confirmed some Muslims’ greatest fears amid what they say is a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. The current climate has contributed to the sense that Muslims in America will have to deal with the consequences of broader international issues beyond the scope of their own communities.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Deah Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.
Authorities indicated Wednesday that Hicks’ targeting of the students may have been motivated by a parking dispute,the Associated Press reported.
However, many remain unconvinced that Hicks, a self-identified “anti-theist” with a history of posting anti-religion commentary on social-media sites, was not motivated by bias.
The incident came amid a spike in anti-Muslim animosity throughout the U.S., which some have linked to the aftermath of the attacks by Islamist extremists on Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris last month, as well as recent high-profile atrocities committed by Islamic State group militants.
Major U.S. cities such as New York have reported significant increases in hate crimes against Muslims: There was a triple-digit surge across the city in 2014, according to the New York Police Department.
In all, the NYPD recorded 224 hate crimes in 2014, compared with 192 in the same period last year, Osgood said. That’s a 17 percent increase.
Those targeting Jews have risen from 64 to 89, for an increase of 39 percent. Attacks on Muslims have risen from seven to 17, an alarming 145 percent.
(Lora Moftah – International Business Times)
