TULSA — On Friday, August 12, 37-year-old Oklahoma resident Khalid Jabara was brutally murdered by his neighbor who had directed racial slurs at him for years.

On Saturday, August 13, Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, 64, were killed in Queens, New York by a lone gunman as they were walking home.

Both incidents left a scar on Arab and Muslim residents— who are a part of communities made up of multiple backgrounds and nationalities.

Jabara, a Lebanese American, was not a Muslim. His family comes from a Christian background, yet that didn’t make him any less vulnerable to the hate rhetoric that has been sweeping the nation.

Akonjee and Uddin were not Middle Eastern; they were a part of a vibrant Bengali community.

If anything, the three deaths serve as a reminder of a broadened rhetoric now targeting individuals based solely on their appearance, regardless of their faith or national origin. 

‘Neighbor dispute’

It took a couple days following Jabara’s death for the media to pick up on it. The AANews was the first outlet to report the incident as a hate-driven crime.

Prior to that, his murder had only made the local news in Tulsa as a “neighbor dispute.” But that clearly wasn’t the case. 

Jabara’s outspoken sister, Victoria Jabara Williams, shed light on the animosity carried out by Vernon Majors, 61, the neighbor who had taunted the family for years because of their ethnic background.

On numerous occasions, he had called them “Dirty Arabs.” They had contacted authorities about his escalating behavior, only to be told, “There’s nothing we can do.”

Majors had just been released from prison for running over Jabara’s mom in September 2015. And he returned to the neighborhood to finish what he had started.

The incident is a reminder of another case that left three Muslim students dead in February 2015. 

The slayings of Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha in Chapel Hill, carried out by an enraged neighbor, was also originally also reported as a “neighbor dispute” as well.

In an interview with The AANews, Farris Barakat, the brother of the male victim in the Chapel Hill incident, said he saw a striking resemblance between the murders of his family members and the incident in Tulsa.

“The unfortunate reality is the police don’t understand the threats that Muslims may feel,” Barakat said. “Part of that is because of the narrative that it’s a neighbor dispute. That’s what they put it out to be, instead of understanding from the beginning that it’s hate-based.”

Barakat recalls his brother feeling threatened by his neighbor in the days leading up to his murder. On numerous occasions, Deah attempted to react calmly to his neighbor’s growing hostility, even smiling at him when they crossed paths.

“What’s the toughest thing in all this is that we argue that this wasn’t a neighborhood dispute, but at the end of the day it does involve neighbors,” Barakat said.  “Neighbors should be people we know and treat with outmost respect.  Those are people we should confide in. But we are finding that these are the people who end up carrying out these murders. I think it speaks to where we are in terms of unchecked fears and having it manifest in ways that lead to violence.”

Barakat said that following the incident in Chapel Hill, law enforcement in the area has stepped up measures in responding to hate-based threats. Unfortunately, it took the slaying of three bright Muslim students for it to ensue.

“Chapel hill has been taking those calls more seriously,” Barakat said. “The police have apologized and have come to the mosques to learn more about what Muslims are going through.”

Outcasted

Wafa Karim, a Palestinian American residing in a suburb outside of San Diego, said she’s having second doubts about her family’s place in this country. 

Karim’s 3-year-old son is half Afghani. She worries that with their religion and ethnic make-up constantly being scrutinized in the media, it would not result in an ideal upbringing for her child.

“I just don’t feel safe raising my son, an Arab-Afghani Muslim boy, in a country where his ethnic background is constantly being demonized,” Karim said. “Specifically after the Orlando night club shooting, when Donald Trump gave a speech a day later. Hearing a possible president openly say the reason why this happened is because we let this man’s parents immigrate here from Afghanistan 30 years ago— that was terrifying.”

Karim resides just a few miles away from where the San Bernardino shootings occurred last December. Since then, she said she’s felt “outcasted”, even in California— widely regarded as the most progressive state in the nation. 

The incident with Jabara in Tulsa all the more made her question just how local residents may perceive her family. 

“I do feel like it’s become open season on Muslims,” Karim said. “It makes me second guess digging deeper roots in this country, if we are made to feel so strongly unwanted. Our whole culture and religion is being generalized based on the actions of a few.”

Karim said she would consider moving to another region, with South America being one of her top destinations. She knows of Muslims who moved there and have found a comfortable place in society.

“I do feel like maybe there are other parts of the world that would be more tolerant towards Muslims and would be safer and a healthier place to raise my son,” Karim said. “I wanted him to grow up with a strong sense of culture and be proud of his heritage, just like any other American. Unfortunately, I just don’t see that happening here anymore.”

Unity

Nidhal Garmo, a Chaldean American activist, said the murder in Tulsa should be a wake up call for the Muslim and Arab-Christian communities.

 “A lot of people are judging Muslims…I know my own people are,” Garmo said. “Middle Eastern people who are Christian need to realize they are not safe here. Nobody is safe in America anymore.”

Garmo, who founded One World Medical Mission (OWMM), a non-profit charitable organization that assists displaced Iraqis, said that Muslim residents’ positive contributions to society go by unnoticed, due to their negative depiction the media.

Muslims have consistently contributed to OWMM, with much of the resources aiding deteriorating Christian communities in the Middle East. 

“God be with anybody who is Muslim; it must be very hard for them right now,” Garmo said. “I have many friends who are Muslims and they’ve been helping Christians a lot. They’ve been donating and lending their hands.”

Garmo acknowledged that over the last year, tensions had escalated between the Muslim and Chaldean communities. She noted that she routinely dispels misconceptions in her own community about ISIS and Islam— rhetoric at the front line of the Trump campaign.

“It will be the end of America, if somebody like Trump comes in,” Garmo said. “He’s saying so many negative things and using abusive language. He’s not fit to be a leader. Syrian refugees are victims of ISIS and he’s mixing the victims with the criminals. It’s just so wrong.”