Race Forward extends its condolences to the families and friends of Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, three Arab-Muslim students who were killed this week in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We hold Arab and Muslim communities in our thoughts, knowing well the terror that can arise in the wake of such horrific events.

We join the call for these murders to be investigated as hate crimes. Too often non-white lives are devalued; regardless of the explanation, there is no excuse. Hate does not exist in isolation, and the idea that an act cannot be a hate crime and have a triggering event must be vigorously challenged.

No matter how we might identify – Black, Hispanic, LBTGQ, Sikh, Muslim, Asian, Arab, or something else – many of our communities have experienced the feelings of fear and helplessness associated with violence rooted in racial discrimination.  It must stop.

For more on the murder of Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha and others in our communities, see the links below:

• Three Muslim Family Members Murdered in Chapel Hill 
• Guilty Verdict Returned in Renisha McBride Trial
• NYC Sikh Man Called 'Terrorist,' Run Over by Truck 
• Jordan Davis: What We've Come to Expect 
• Man Who Killed Latino For Pulling in to Wrong Drive Way Out on Bail
• Friends Raise Funds to Honor Undocumented Trans Activist After 'Suspicious' Death 
• Trayvon Martin and the Deadly Legacy of Vigilantism