CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Thousands of people gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Wednesday to pay tribute to the three young Muslims who were killed by a neighbor a day earlier.
The gathering was held at a central meeting space on UNC’s campus. In a show of solidarity, some of those who attended were students from nearby arch-rival Duke University. As scenes from the short lives of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha played in the background on a projector, a parade of speakers came to a podium to honor the victims.
“I know that I can’t make sense of it. Many others can’t make sense of it,” said Barakat’s brother, Farris. Speaking through his grief, he made a simple request, one that many of the other speakers echoed: “I plead that you live in their legacy,” Farris said.
Friends and family members spoke of the three victims’ commitment to public service and scholarship, as well as their general good nature. Other than the speakers, the vigil was nearly totally silent, interrupted by the occasional sound of police sirens in the distance. And though many were in tears, there was also some laughter, as mourners recalled fond memories of the three murdered on Tuesday.
Dentistry students and others look on as a makeshift memorial is made at UNC.
–
“When I saw the pictures of them I thought, it could have been any one of us,” said Tesay Yusef, a Stanford student and member of the school’s Muslim Student Awareness Network. “I just saw myself a lot in them, being a Muslim going to college.”
Zeshan Hussain, another Stanford student, echoed Yusef. “That could have been our story,” he said.
The crowd grew in size as students biking by noticed the candlelit crowd and stopped to join their peers. The vigil’s organizers choked back tears as they addressed the circle and read poems.
“In response, we can do one of two things,” Hussain said to the crowd. “We can either perpetuate the hate, the evil and intolerance that has caused this crime … or we can respond with love.”
“We can respond with hope and understanding and tolerance and be an embodiment of these values,” Hussain added. “We can reach out to those who we perceive to be different than us.”
