TAKE ON HATE joined community members and leaders at a vigil March 11, 2016 at Wayne State University (Detroit, Mich.) to honor #‎OurThreeBrothers Mohamedtaha, Adam and Muhannad. 

By Asha Noor
Campaign to TAKE ON HATE
Advocacy and Civic Engagement Specialist (ACE)

Salaam, Peace and Blessings

What I write about today has weighed heavily on my heart and mind, and many others in our community: the tragic death of #OurThreeBrothers Mohamedtaha, Muhanad and Adam.

I want to first give my condolences to their families, friends and loved ones. Although I have no familial ties with these young brothers, I am deeply impacted by their death.

A Sudanese proverb that comes to mind is "a child is a child of everyone." Their mothers lost their sons in the most tragic way, and we as a community have lost our brothers. We are intertwined by our humanity, our religion, many of us by our similar plights as refugees and some of us because of our blackness. But ultimately those factors are not a precursor to feeling the loss of another human being. It should not be a precursor to whether or not we ask for justice. It should not be a determining factor of whether or not we criminalize and defame their name, or chose to honor them.

The Campaign to TAKE ON HATE is deeply saddened  by the horrendous murders of three young Sudanese Americans in Fort Wayne, IN. The three young men, aged 17 to 23, have been identified as Mohamedtaha Omar, Adam Mekki and Muhannad Tairab.

The families of these young men are devastated by the deaths of their beloved sons, brothers and cousins, and our community grieves with them for the tragic loss of #OurThreeBrothers. Their families left their country of origin during times of civil strife, in hopes for a safe haven—now they must bury their children in a home that was meant to bring peace and safety.