To the Editor,
The fifth anniversary of the murders of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha, also known as Our Three Winners, was Feb. 10.
While many students recognized the tragic loss of their lives that day, we were disappointed to see no official statement from the University on Our Three Winners Day.
Deah and Yusor were UNC Dentistry students, and the three were killed here in the Town of Chapel Hill. The shooting was motivated by anti-Muslim bigotry, and it deeply affects Muslim and non-Muslim students at our school.
The fact that the School of Dentistry honors Our Three Winners annually for a day of service they designate as DEAH DAY (Directing Efforts And Honoring Deah and Yusor), while the University itself remained silent on the anniversary of their deaths is shocking.
Our Three Winners continue to serve as an inspiration to us all, even in death. They were dedicated to service, to making people’s lives better.
“I have a dream one day, to have a unified and structured community,” Deah once wrote in a tweet. “Have a voice in our society and support the youth with their projects.”
Though these three bright lights from our community are gone, we will not let their voices go unheard.
For a university committed to diversity and inclusion, the University fell quite short in representing the students it serves.
