UF students fought the wind to light candles Monday night to show that black Muslim lives matter.
About 20 students gathered on Turlington Plaza to honor three young men — Mohamedtaha Omar, 23, Adam Mekki, 20, and Muhannad Tairab, 17 — who were killed execution-style in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Feb. 24. The vigil was to honor the young men and draw attention to their deaths, said Yasmin Ali, who organized the event.
Students said a traditional Muslim funeral prayer and held signs reading “#BlackMuslimLivesMatter” and “Our Three Brothers.”
Ali, the vice president of internal affairs for Islam on Campus, said she didn’t know about the murders until days later. She said the Fort Wayne shootings didn’t receive extensive coverage because the victims were black.
“We’re here today to honor their lives and amplify their stories,” said Ali, a UF biology junior. “They were not into drugs, gangs or any type of violence as kind of was insinuated by the media.”
Cupping a candle given to him at the vigil, Rashhan Siddique listens as Islam on Campus leaders speak about the injustice of recent crimes against black people. "It goes to show how the situation is for Muslims as well as blacks," he said.
Omar and Tairab were Muslim, while Mekki was Nubian Christian, the 20-year-old said. Police in Fort Wayne have said the murders were not a hate crime, according to CBS News.
After lighting candles, students donned hijabs and stood in two lines to recite a janaza prayer, a prayer for funerals that can be said when bodies aren’t present, Ali said.
“It really brings the community together to acknowledge and have a closure on their death,” she said.
She said the crime resembled the murders of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, last year. Last year, about 100 students attended a vigil for the Chapel Hill victims.
Ali said attendance might have been low because the murders happened more than a week ago. She said there could also have been fewer people because the victims were black.
“It’s not one or the other; it’s more that this vigil should have more weight and impact in the community because it’s two very discriminated groups,” she said. “There was clearly a difference, and I think we need to acknowledge that.”
Rashhan Siddique, a 21-year-old UF electrical engineering junior, leads a prayer Monday night on Turlington Plaza for the people who were killed in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, murders last week. "When I first heard about it... what hurt me the most is that there wasn't much media coverage of it," Siddique said.
Hayat Kemal, a UF sociology junior, said she related to the victims because she is an African-American Muslim. She said the shooting made her fear for her 15-year-old brother.
“It makes me scared for the world we may be living in later on,” the 20-year-old said. “You want to believe society is progressing, but we’re really taking ten steps back.”
She said the Muslim community should support the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I personally feel that someone who’s Muslim is more hated than someone who’s black,” she said. “When those two things are combined, it’s almost a death wish.”
Omar Khan stands alongside other members and supporters of Islam on Campus on listening to the details of the late February slaying of three men in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The 21-year-old mechanical engineering junior said the fact that he didn't know about the murders until now spoke volumes, and he hoped the vigil would bring a little light to the subject.
