Free performance explores Islamophobia

Shooting victim̢۪s friend brings staging to Cal Lutheran

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Spoken word poet Mohammad Moussa will stage “Shattered Glass: A Multimedia Performance on the Impact of Islamophobia” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in Preus-Brandt Forum on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Photo: North Carolina State University

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Sept. 13, 2016) A friend of a Muslim victim of a fatal shooting will present a multimedia performance at California Lutheran University about the tragic incident.

Spoken word poet Mohammad Moussa will stage “Shattered Glass: A Multimedia Performance on the Impact of Islamophobia” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in Preus-Brandt Forum on the Thousand Oaks campus.

“Shattered Glass” tells the story of the murder of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Feb. 10, 2015, by a neighbor, Craig Hicks. The shooting victims were Deah Barakat, his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha. After Hicks turned himself in that night, police issued a statement declaring that the killings had likely been motivated by a parking dispute and media reported that explanation. Family and friends, though, were adamant that it was a hate crime. The shooting has sparked conversations about how minority narratives are shaped and about what role the media and entertainment outlets play.

Written and performed by Moussa, “Shattered Glass” features poetry, photos and videos. It takes the audience on a journey of reflection and commemoration.

“In the moments after this tragedy, we are a community of shattered glass that must learn how to make mosaics,” explained Moussa, who met Barakat when both attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh. “We feel broken, but out of these pieces we have to come together and make something beautiful out of it.”

Moussa, a hardware engineer from San Diego, is a member of Poetic Portraits of a Revolution. He and three other members traveled to Egypt and Tunisia in 2011 to document the Arab Spring uprisings through oral histories, photography, video and poetry. The project was featured on National Public Radio and American Public Media. The spoken word poet has performed at the SwitchPoint conference, TEDxUNC and the Visualizing Human Rights Conference.

Cal Lutheran’s Religion Department and Center for Diversity Initiative are sponsoring the free event.

The forum is located at 135 Chapel Lane. For more information, contact Rose Aslan at raslan@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3236. 

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