College Green vigil commemorates UNC shooting victims
Feb. 13, 2015The mood was somber as white candles flickered at a vigil Friday evening in honor of three Muslim students who were fatally shot in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday.About 40 people gathered at the vigil that held behind Templeton Blackburn Memorial Auditorium on College Green.Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salh were killed on Wednesday near the University of North Carolina. All three were university students and were Muslim. Deah Shaddy Barakat and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha had just recently been married.Signs at the vigil read “racist hate is not about parking disputes” and "#ourthreewinners.”Hanging from the top of the auditorium were the words #muslimlivesmatter.The vigil was a, “collaboration of a lot of organizations” on campus, said Katie Conlon, a junior studying history who is a member of Students for Law, Justice and Culture.She was happy to show support the Muslim community in Athens.“All peoples’ lives matter,” Ibrahim Alfurayj, a graduate student studying chemistry, said.During the vigil, Alfurayj recited verses from the Quran.Claire Seid, a sophomore studying sociology, expressed there was a need for “no words, but song” as she went on to lead the vigil in a song she learned at interfaith walk in September. Some of the lyrics to the song include. “There is more hope somewhere / Gonna keep on till I find it,” she sang.Ryant Taylor, a senior studying English and Post columnist, said he feels people need to talk about what happened.“There are things other than myself that I need to be worried about,” Taylor said. @megankhenrymh573113@ohio.edu
