By Jeremy Joseph Christian fatally stabbed two men and injured another in Portland on a commuter train after they tried to intervene when he began yelling anti-Muslim slurs at two women, one of whom was wearing a hijab.
Destinee Hudson, 16, and her 17-year-old Muslim friend, who is not publicly identified, were on a MAX downtown train when Christian approached them and began shouting racial slurs at them.
Destinee’s mother, Dyjuana Hudson told The Oregonian that Christian was saying that “Muslims should die.”
The victims are 53-year-old Ricky John Best and 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche. The third victim is Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, who is being treated at a hospital but is expected to survive.
Namkai-Meche just graduated with an economics degree from Reed College. His family released a statement about his tragic death saying, “In his final act of bravery, he held true to what he believed is the way forward,” adding, “We ask that in honor of his memory, we use this tragedy as an opportunity for reflection and change.”
Rick Best was a father of four and an army veteran. His supervisor at the Bureau of Development Services, Kareen Perkins, told The Oregonian, “it’s just like Rick to step in and help somebody out.”
The 35-year-old assailant is a known local white supremacist and a convicted felon. According to the Portland Mercury, Christian attended the “March for Free Speech” rally, where he brought a baseball bat in an attempt to assault left-wing protesters. At the rally, he was heard yelling racial slurs and gave the Nazi salute throughout the day.
At a news conference, the special agent in charge of the Portland FBI office, Loren Cannon, said,”It’s too early to say whether last night’s violence was an act of domestic terrorism or a federal hate crime.”
The Muslim Education Trust and CelebrateMercy, two Muslim-run nonprofit organizations, quickly created a LaunchGood campaign called “Muslims Unite for Portland Heroes” to financially help the victims’ families with funeral expenses and other expenses that may arise.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement urging President Trump to denounce the hate crime in Oregon. The National Executive Director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, said in a press release, “Only a strong statement from the nation’s leader will send a message to bigots that such acts of violence targeting racial, ethnic or religious minorities are unacceptable.”
CAIR is offering free copies of its manual, “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety,” to Muslim community leaders. The manual can be requested here.
Linda Sarsour, an active community organizer based in New York, said in a tweet, “What happened in Oregon IS TERRORISM,” adding, “Two men stabbed to death for standing up to bigotry/racism/Islamophobia. Definition of terrorism.”
As a Portland native, I am both heartbroken at losing such brave and beautiful souls, but also angry and ashamed that we have such ugly ones amonst our community. Oregon doesn’t have a good history as far as race, but I pray that it’s individuals like Taliesin (a fellow Reed College graduate, which made me even less surprised that he took the action he did) Ricky, Micah that will forever outshine those who seek to promote hate, bigotry, Islamophobia, etc. Ameen.
I like how you tell us multiple times that the perp is a white terrorist and show us his face, but conveniently omit the fact that all three of the men who stepped in to help were also white men, including the two that died, and you don’t include any photos of them. Come on, Muslim Girl. Are you promoting the same kind of mentality as Jeremy Christian?
So they finally got treated (although no where near the terror that they’ve done throughout the whole world), so they’re got a tiny drop of the evil they’ve done.Its a fact of life you reap what you sew. So they’ve got decades of reaping coming on them
Justice served.
Pathetic this guy should have life a sentence ewww these islamophobic people really do my head in I MEAN it big time! We have the right to walk down the street safely without the feeling of unsafety lurking at the back of our heads have you forgotten that we have the right to express our individuality and religious beliefs the uk is a multi ethnic society which means that all races and religions live together they’re living in a world of cultural differences what really gets to me is those racist people out there I don’t really get the reasoning behind this but I am guessing that you have magically inherited it from your racist parents or you never had an interaction with a person outside your race or religion pretty sad isn’t it? so you develop this mentality of HATE I am telling you it all starts with HATE that’s the root cause of this problem then it slowly grows developing this old fashioned stereotypes of other races/religions then what??? Well you have to use your brain that god gave you and think ???? ok let me tell you as it won’t stick to your small mind gradually you take action and what I mean by action is that you began to plot inside your pathetic mind about how to attack those people you begin to have these irrational thoughts about murder seeing that this guy is a sociopath I feel sorry for him growing up he must have dealt with a few you know here and there….. ups and downs of his drinking problems seeing that he might as well been an alcoholic or worse a drug addict, my inferences are getting there so you must have grown up surrounded by your alcoholic parents and explored the power of BBC news , Fox News , CNN etc Who have successfully brainwashed you to the extend that you end up committing murder sad I feel sorry for your life (sarcasm) and I hope you rot in hell….
Oh and thank you for the two men who defended the Muslim girls we need more people like you who don’t spread hate but spread peace,tolerance,awareness and social acceptance regardless of race, class, socia-economic status and religion.
Jzk allah
From Isra ❤️