Chapel Hill Murders Are About More Than a Parking Dispute
February 12, 2015I have three categories of Facebook friends who are, like me, North Carolinians or University of North Carolina alumni.
The first are deeply crushed by the murder of three young Muslim people in Chapel Hill on Tuesday.
The second group is also horrified, but part — if not most — of their horror derives from their dismay that mass murder could occur in their idyllic and upper-class town.
Then there’s the third group whose members are, at best, are in denial; at worst, they’re willfully blind.
For those unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of my home state, Chapel Hill is known as a mythically progressive oasis in a red state, and it’s squarely in the Triangle, a region known for its concentration of PhDs and creative-class workers.
I lived not far from Finley Forest, the condo neighborhood that Deah Barakat; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha; and her sister, Razan, were killed. For seven years of my life, I enjoyed the perks of Chapel Hill life: food co-ops and granola coffee shops; safe and cheap public transportation; balmy weather; and a cohort of young, intellectually curious, and lively people to call my friends.