Hate Crimes: Watch for the Warning Signs
No one likes to believe that they have the possibility of being victims of a crime. It’s easier to put the label of a victim on someone else rather than on ones self. This is the case with Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha in “The Story of a Hate Crime” reported by Margaret Talbot. Barakat, Abu-Salha, and Razan were normal people who fit in seamlessly with society. They were successful and they got along well with almost everyone. The only exception was Barakat’s neighbor Craig Hicks. Hicks was known as a bully around the Finley Forest condominium complex and his main target was Barakat. However, Barakat and the others did nothing about the harassment thinking it was harmless. Barakat, Abu-Salh and Razan could have easily avoided Hick’s wrath if they had paid attention to the warning signs Hick’s exhibited before their death. …show more content…
Much of the harassment was over parking. Hicks had a history of leafleting cars in the parking lot and the local towing company stopped responding to his calls. Talbot mentioned that, to prevent further confrontations, Barakat got a map of the parking lot and highlighted permissible spaces, and distributed that map to his friends and family. However, if parking wasn’t the problem then noise was. Talbot mentioned that on one occasion, Hicks flashed one of his guns to prove how serious he was about the noisiness. Even though North Carolina is an open carry state, Barakat should have reported the incident or made it apparent to the police that he was being harassed. If Barakat or the others put thought into how serious these little issues were to Hicks, then they would have been more careful around him or they would have
No one likes to believe that they have the possibility of being victims of a crime. It’s easier to put the label of a victim on someone else rather than on ones self. This is the case with Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha in “The Story of a Hate Crime” reported by Margaret Talbot. Barakat, Abu-Salha, and Razan were normal people who fit in seamlessly with society. They were successful and they got along well with almost everyone. The only exception was Barakat’s neighbor Craig Hicks. Hicks was known as a bully around the Finley Forest condominium complex and his main target was Barakat. However, Barakat and the others did nothing about the harassment thinking it was harmless. Barakat, Abu-Salh and Razan could have easily avoided Hick’s wrath if they had paid attention to the warning signs Hick’s exhibited before their death. …show more content…
Much of the harassment was over parking. Hicks had a history of leafleting cars in the parking lot and the local towing company stopped responding to his calls. Talbot mentioned that, to prevent further confrontations, Barakat got a map of the parking lot and highlighted permissible spaces, and distributed that map to his friends and family. However, if parking wasn’t the problem then noise was. Talbot mentioned that on one occasion, Hicks flashed one of his guns to prove how serious he was about the noisiness. Even though North Carolina is an open carry state, Barakat should have reported the incident or made it apparent to the police that he was being harassed. If Barakat or the others put thought into how serious these little issues were to Hicks, then they would have been more careful around him or they would have