[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHAPEL HILL SHOOTING

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                           HON. KEITH ELLISON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 2016

  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, today marks one year since three young 
Americans were killed for their faith.
   On February 10th, 2015, Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan 
Abu-Salha were murdered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They were shot 
and killed because they were Muslim.
   Yusor was a graduate of North Carolina State University and planned 
on enrolling at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, where her 
husband, Deah, was studying to become a dentist. Razan, Yusor's sister, 
was a student at NCSU as well. She was only 19 years old.
   These murders break my heart. They should be heartbreaking to every 
American.
   The tragedy in Chapel Hill shows us the stark reality of anti-Muslim 
bigotry: hate speech and scapegoating has real life consequences. 
Children are bullied in schools, houses of worship are vandalized, and 
people are killed for the way they dress or how they pray.
   Candidates for public office, public officials, and leaders are 
spewing hatred against American Muslims, calling for Muslim refugees to 
be banned from entering the country, or for Muslims living here--
including some that were born and raised as American--should carry ID 
cards or register their names in a database. This type of rhetoric is 
why our young children are afraid to go to school and why people are 
being killed because of how they look or how they pray.
   After the murder, some people in the press argued that it was over a 
parking dispute. I'm reminded of what Deah's brother, Farris, said: ``I 
can only accept Deah, Yusor, and Razan's murders as being over a 
parking dispute, if Rosa Parks's struggle was over a bus seat.''

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