Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Chapel Hill shootings that took the lives of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha, more than 400 people attended “Shattered Glass,” a multimedia spoken word piece performed by NC State alumnus Mohammad Moussa Thursday evening in Stewart Theatre. Deah, his wife Yusor and her younger sister Razan were shot and killed by their neighbor Feb. 10, 2015, in Chapel Hill.
“We are now a community of shattered glass that must learn to make mosaics,” Moussa said.
Moussa’s piece combined poetry with photos and videos of Deah, Yusor and Razan, that showed their happiness, thoughtfulness and light.
Moussa was one of Deah’s closest friends and described him as a 6’3” light house — in reference both to the meaning of Deah’s name and the Light House Project, an initiative started in his honor to reclaim the Muslim American narrative. He admired Deah’s “no complaints” attitude and described him as a walking daydream. Deah was a 23-year-old second-year student at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry.
Yusor, he compared to both a flower and a queen. She “blossomed ideas” and “wore her hijab like a crown.” Yusor and Deah had been married fewer than six weeks before they were killed, and she had just been accepted into the dentistry program at UNC-CH. She was 21.
Though Moussa had never met Razan, he knew others loved her for her creativity and optimism. She was 19 and had just started her second semester at NC State, studying environmental architecture. Her father, Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, described her as “the breeze of the day.”
News clips of the coverage of the shooting amplified Moussa’s message. They showcased Deah and Yusor playing basketball, Deah’s dedication to providing dental care to refugees, and Razan holding up a sign with the words “There Is Hope.”
Audience members laughed when watching video clips of Deah and Yusor celebrating their functioning water faucet and Razan telling her sister, “You look ugly today.” They cried when they heard a clip of Yusor’s soft voice in a StoryCorps interview and when Moussa recounted details of their funeral.
Moussa said it is necessary that the United States continue to discuss the Chapel Hill shootings as a hate crime rather than pretending there is no problem.
“Tell me lies, and fiction, and stories, but please don’t tell me that it is OK,” Moussa said.
Moussa received a standing ovation from the audience.
Following the performance, poet and journalist Will McInerney hosted a panel discussion with Moussa, Abu-Salha, Deah’s brother Farris Barakat, and Anna Bigelow, associate professor of philosophy and religion.
The panel discussion allowed for audience interaction in which the panelists shared memories of Deah, Yusor and Razan and reflected on the past year. Moussa said the 45-minute poem was a product of months of writing and remembering the three.
Both Abu-Salha and Barakat sought to clarify that the shooting was a hate crime, not a parking dispute.
Abu-Salha recalled that Deah, Yusor and Razan were nearly inseparable.
“If Razan had lived, she would have died of sadness,” he said.
Abu-Salha referred to Deah, Yusor and Razan as “martyrs of peace” and discussed misconceptions regarding the Muslim faith.
Abu-Salha also expressed his appreciation of the NC State community.
“I thank the Wolfpack for giving my children the happiest years of their lives,” Abu-Salha said. “They really enjoyed it.”
The wave of emotions that Moussa expressed in his spoken word piece were mirrored by students in attendance. Omar Youssef, a senior studying mechanical engineering, explained the emotions he felt while watching the presentation.
“Seeing all of the pictures brought back a lot of memories of me and Deah, and also the shock,” he said.
Doha Medani, a sophomore studying nutrition science, expressed similar feelings.
“It was difficult to sit there and play back all of the emotions,” Medani said. “Mohammad went about it beautifully and eloquently.”
Mohammad Moussa, an NC State alumnus, performs "Shattered Glass" in Stewart Theatre in Talley Student Union on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. "Shattered Glass" is a tribute to Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha — the three victims of the Chapel Hill shooting — by fusing poetry, imagery and video into one powerful celebration of their lives. "Tell me something that will make the pain easier to swallow," he said. "Tell me lies, and fiction, and stories — but please don't tell me it's OK."
