No Room For Hate
Green Bay shooting triggers anti-hate crime event at UW-WC
Ubiq Editor
On April 25, the Student Taskforce Against Hate Crimes hosted a presentation sponsored by the Student Government at UW-WC to speak out against hate on college campuses.
Multiple speakers volunteered their time to come to campus and speak to the student body. While every person had their own background, they all spoke out against discrimination, prejudice, and racism in an effort to inform the students and community members attending the lunch period lecture.
The Student Taskforce started organizing this spring break after hearing about Sara Abdulrahman's situation and tried to determine what they could do to help her case and provide awareness here on campus. While the courts determined the shooting was an accident, not everyone agreed after hearing her story.
Abdulrahman had been visiting her boyfriend in Green Bay when she had been shot in the stomach by her boyfriend's ex-roommate, who also happened to be an ex-military soldier that served in Iraq.
UW-WC student Sara Abdulrahman was shot by an United States ex-soldier in what the courts ruled was an accident. (Buchannan)
The situation started shortly after the ex-soldier realized Abdulrahman's ethnic background through her surname, at which point he began provoking her by asking her if she would like to see his movies from when he killed 'Arabs' in Iraq.
Upon refusing, she decided to avoid the soon-to-be-assailant for the rest of the night and stayed near the people she knew; however, when she went back to visit her boyfriend again the next morning the ex-soldier began provoking her anew by asking her whether or not she wanted to see his M-4 rifle.
Once again, she refused, but this time the ex-soldier vanished for a few minutes and came back downstairs with the rifle to shoot her in the stomach. The assailant then put a towel over the wound and drove Abdulrahman to the hospital; however, maintaining the speed limit the entire way to as he tried to avoid getting pulled over the police and kept repeating, "It was an accident!"
The case went through the courts and the ex-soldier was charged with reckless use of a fire arm in which case he pleaded no contest to the charge.
While the case had been resolved in the court's eyes, Abdulrahman was forced to sit in the hospital while her mother waited next to her bedside. The entire time, she was wondering whether or not the firearm incident was in fact an accident or whether he intended to fire the M-4 rifle.
Throughout the process, Abdulrahman's mother lost her employment as she watched over her daughter and now the family is being forced to communicate with St. Norbert's to see what can be done in regards to her student fees and missed exams.
Abdulrahman currently plans to finish out her semester at UW-WC as she has been working fulltime to pay for her education and hopefully she will be able to attend UW-Milwaukee next semester.
While this situation was what initiated the Student Taskforce, they hope incoming freshmen and returning students continue the group to help promote awareness both on and off the University of Wisconsin campuses.
