Was it a hate crime? New documentary explores the murder of 3 young Muslims in NC
A new documentary explores the murder of three young Muslims who were shot in their North Carolina apartment and whether it was a hate crime.
In 2015, 23-year-old Deah Barakat, 21-year-old Yusor Abu-Salha and 19-year-old Razan Abu-Salha were shot and killed in their Finley Forest apartment, not far from the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, The News & Observer previously reported.
Barakat was in his second year of dental school at UNC, and his new wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, had graduated from North Carolina State University and was about to join him there. Razan Abu-Salha, Yusor’s sister, was studying at N.C. State’s design school.
Law enforcement attributed the murder at the time to a parking dispute that boiled over, but the victims’ families and members of the community believe they were victims of a hate crime.
The three were killed by their white neighbor, Craig Hicks, The News & Observer reports. He pleaded guilty to the crimes in June 2019 and is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
The documentary “Anatomy of Hate,” published this week by The Marshall Project and Time, explores the details of the triple murder that made national headlines and if it meets the definition of a hate crime.
“It was a triple-murder fueled by rage — but was it a hate crime?” the documentary asks.
The film includes interviews from experts on what qualifies as a hate crime, how the standard is met, and what it means to be classified as a hate crime.
Joseph Kennedy, a law professor at UNC, said in the documentary hate crimes have “special, significant harms.”
“Convicting the perpetrator of not just a simple assault but of a hate crime gives society the chance to stand in solidarity with the victim,” he said.
The families of the victims pushed for a federal hate crime investigation, but feds declined to prosecute the murders as such, according to the documentary.
The film includes interviews from family members, officials and Hicks, showing the debate on whether what Hicks did was a hate crime.
The documentary concludes with the victims’ relatives discussing the impact the murders have had on their lives, memories with the three, and how their legacies will live on.
“We want our nation, our government to learn something from it,” Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of Yusor and Razan, said in the documentary. “At least that hate doesn’t work and cannot be hidden. It will manifest and the price is very dear and expensive.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 3:26 PM.
