On Tuesday, February 10 three Muslim
students were murdered in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. Deah Barakat, Yusor Mohammad
Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Mohammad
Abu-Salha were victims of a racist hate crime
fuelled by increasing Islamophobia in the
United States and all Western countries. Since
the day of the killings, people from around
the world have joined together for vigils and
rallies in solidarity with the victims and to
take a stand against Islamophobia. There
have been two vigils organized in the Lower
Mainland, at Holland Park in Surrey on
Friday, February 13, and at the Art Gallery in
downtown Vancouver on Saturday, February
14. Following the vigil in Surrey, organized
by Muslim Youth in Motion, Fire This Time
interviewed Sherry Rashidan, a young
Muslim community organizer and emcee of the
Surrey vigil.
Thank you Sherry for agreeing to do this
interview with Fire This Time and also
for doing a fantastic job of MC’ing today’s
vigil for the three Muslim students,
victims of the Chapel Hill shooting.
Fire This Time (FTT): What do you
think, was just an isolated incident, or do
you think we are witnessing a sharp rise
in Islamophobic hate crimes in North
America, especially in the United States?
Sherry Rashidan: I think especially recently,
Islam and Muslims in general have been a
very central thing in the media, in a very,
very biased manner, and Islamophobia is
on the rise day after day. This is not the
first time that we are hearing about a hate
crime happening
towards Muslims
for them being
Muslim, it
happens world-
wide and it often
goes completely
uncovered in the
media. Examples
of this would be
after the Charlie
Hebdo attack
in France there
were incidences
of people
being harassed
and attacked,
mosques being
vandalized.
There was a
murder, a man,
a Muslim man
coming out of
the mosque was
stabbed 17 times and killed, yet this goes
absolutely uncovered. The media too afraid
to use the ‘t’ word, the media is too afraid to
call it terrorism, when we all see it for what
it is.
FTT: What is the feeling of the Muslim
community about these Islamophobic
crimes targeting Muslims?
Sherry Rashidan: It’s scary, and it’s
particularly scary when, like myself, you
wear the flag of your religion, when you
are wearing a hijab and you are a walking
representation of a Muslim woman. It’s
scary to think that these victims were just
like you and I, and that any of us could be
next, especially in the West with the rise in
Islamophobia, it’s so scary, and we feel sad,
and it’s hurtful.
FTT: What is the response of the Muslim
community overall, and specifically the
Muslim community in Vancouver, to this
racist Islamophobia?
Sherry Rashidan: We express our deepest
condolences and solidarity with the victims
and their families. I just hope that they are
given strength, and patience, I can’t imagine
what it is like. They’ve lost two daughters,
they’ve lost a son, they’ve lost friends, they’ve
lost sisters, they’ve lost brothers, they’ve lost
active members of their community. Not
only that, their families have lost a part of
themselves now, they can’t go on like this,
we are so sorry for this, and we will stand
in solidarity with all victims of hate crime.
FTT: What do you think is the best
support from the progressive community
and other communities, regarding
supporting the Muslim community and
fighting against Islamophobia?
Sherry Rashidan: I want people to educate
themselves. I want them to first and foremost
to know what is going on in this world, so
when they turn on the news and they see
headline attacks saying so-and-so was killed
by a Muslim terrorist and they turn on the
news and see one man, who probably had
mental problems killed a family of Muslims,
they are able to differentiate for themselves
where this is problematic. So I want them
to educate themselves. Secondly, I don’t
want to see silence, it’s so disheartening to
see that in cases where Muslims are the
victims, it doesn’t matter if it happens in
the West, or if we are the victims out in the
Middle East being slaughtered day-by-day,
it’s disheartening to see that it will always
be an overwhelming majority of Muslims
who speak out. It would be nice to see more
support, which we do, and
the support that we see,
we’re so grateful for, and
they know who they are.
FTT: Overall, what is
the cause of the rise of
Islamophobia in Western
countries, why do you think
it is happening more now?
Sherry Rashidan: Honestly,
people are so affected by
pop culture, by media, by
movies, by Hollywood, by
the music industry, by CNN,
by BBC, they are so affected.
Those same people that
might come out and say ‘I
swear, I’m not racist, but...’
they are the people who are
brainwashed by these. Islamophobia, it’s all
in the way that stories are headlined in the
news. I can give you example after example
after example how the media full of double-
standards when it comes to broadcasting any
stories that have to do with Muslims. So it’s
media first of all. Second of all, it’s the fear
of using the word ‘terrorism’ for any other
acts of violence for political means, that are
not done by an Arab or a Muslim. That is
problematic because when you restrict that
word purely for a person who comes from
Muslim or Arab descent, you are creating
this bridge between two completely different
groups of people. So I think that that needs
to be addressed, but most, and foremost, we
have to educate ourselves.
FTT: Thank you very much Sherry for
doing this interview with Fire this Time.
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