Ahmed al-Jumali, an Iraqi migrant, had waited a year for paperwork to be completed so he could join his wife, Zahraa, in the United States.
When he finally made it he was greeted at the airport by his wife with a sign saying that she had waited "460 days for.......... this moment."
Twenty days later, Ahmed, his wife and his brother were outside their Dallas apartment taking pictures of the snow.
They had never seen snow before.
Four people entered the apartment complex on foot, multiple shots were fired, and Ahmed was killed.
No motive has been established and nobody has been arrested, but suspicions are that this was a hate crime.
Apparently there has been open resentment towards and anger directed at people of the Islamic faith in Texas.
Shpendim Nadzaku, an imam (religious leader) for the Islamic Association of North Texas, said "there has definitely been an increase of very open, vitriolic language towards Muslims in general."
Many Muslims feel this is in response to high profile Isis executions of Westerners.
Consider the emotions here. A man's wife and brother leave Iraq for America in pursuit of a better life. A life that probably appears to them to be light years ahead of the repression and violence in their own country.
Ahmed, husband and brother, finally makes it to America as well and the three of them are jubilant.
Ecstatic at the prospect of their new found freedom and opportunities. Acting like delighted children as they take pictures of the snow that they are experiencing for the first time in their lives.
After spending 20 solid days in this country, Ahmed is gunned down in front of his wife and brother.
Suddenly they don't feel so hopeful. They don't feel so much safer than they felt in Iraq.
Suddenly they are exposed to the dark underbelly of this country. The unreasoning hatred and prejudice, they ease with which violence is used to destroy lives and express cretinous stupidity.
It just keeps getting worse and worse in America.
More open, more vicious, more hostile.
This is a country that was founded by immigrants.
You would think that heritage would foster an open and tolerant attitude towards others who come here pursuing a dream.
Then again, these founding immigrants destroyed an entire race by killing them, lying to them, and stealing from them.
Destroyed the original inhabitants of this country.
That viciousness and hatred and immorality sowed the seeds for the type of society we are today.
You don't get tolerance and enlightenment from bloodshed.
No comments:
Post a Comment