First and foremost, as human beings everyone should remember that this is a matter of the death of a teen. Nabra Hassanen was 17 at the time of her death.
Therefore, every person who writes or comments on her death should be exceedingly careful in how it is done. The suspect, Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, an El Salvadori national, entered the United States illegally and is now in Fairfax County jail. According to police spokesperson Julie Parker, “The suspect became so enraged over this traffic argument that it escalated into deadly violence.” The preliminary investigation reveals that at about 3:40am, about 15 Muslim teenagers were walking back to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque after a visit to McDonalds. One of the Muslim teens began to argue with the suspect, and threw a drink at Torres’s car. He drove his car onto the curb to scare them, then he took a metal baseball bat and ran after part of the group nearby the McDonalds parking lot. Nabra was wearing her abaya (floor length covering), which she then tripped on, becoming Torres’ victim. He struck her with the bat in the head, killing her.
If you receive iPhone news alerts, you must have seen this morning’s news updates. It is evident from the title of the news by the American news agency that there is hardly any desire to report responsibly. Each agency intentionally directed the reader to assume that the murder was a hate crime against Muslims. The only agency that responsibly report the incident for what it is, is Aljazeera.
As a nation we are going through some extremely sensitive times. The enemy looks for opportunities like these to fuel the anger that already exists between us. Already, racism, and immigration are the top two issues that are making headlines since President Trump took the Oval Office. Trump’s strong views on immigration and the refugee situation has created a new place in the U.S. media that portrays the President as anti-Muslims, which of course is not true. However, the U.S. media sets the tone for the world, especially for the Islamic world, which quotes the American news to justify their hatred for America.
Anyhow, hopefully Nabra Hassanen‘s murder will be investigated thoroughly and justice will prevail. Meanwhile, prayers and condolences should be send to the Hassanens. This is a time of pain and grief, not a time to divide our nation further. Let the investigators, and our justice system do their work. Promoting incidents like these as hate crimes against Muslims can have deadly repercussions, where organizations like ISIS and Al-Qaeda can incite young Muslims to take revenge and defend Islam. Perhaps our media can learn a thing or two from Aljazeera in this particular incident.