So this Sunday evening, October 30, Hussain Saeed Alnahdi went out for some socializing before class on Monday. He was attacked and severely beaten by a white man in front of Topper’s Pizza on a main street in the small college town of Menomonie Wisconsin, home to University of Wisconsin Stout. For more on this Washington Post article This crime is being considered a murder, and now the possibility that this is a hate crime must also be pursued.
Stout is a unique school in the Wisconsin system- a polytechnic school with many applied programs ranging from golf course management, hotel management and entertainment design. My daughter is a professor there and some of her students were roommates and close friends with this young man. The University, of course, is devastated at this horrible crime. Just last year, graduating students from the program Hussain joined were celebrating their degrees and their time in this small Wisconsin town. Hussain selected US Stout because Menomonie WI is a very safe place with a strong English program and classes to help him as a business major. He was quickly becoming fluent in English and had many friends both among the Saudi students and Americans from around the country.
My daughter wrote this today, “We lost one of these bright sparks yesterday to an act of senseless violence. Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, 24, was a junior majoring in business administration. The polite language in our daily email was that he 'passed away due to injuries' but he didn't pass. He was stolen.”
“If this is a hate crime, we will need to rally in peace, Menomonie,” one user wrote. “The hate that has spread through our country is so sickening,” wrote another.
The incident grabbed the attention of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which identified Alnahdi as a Muslim and tweeted that it was “monitoring his death.”
The UW-Stout International Relations Club said in a Facebook post Monday that Alnahdi was a member.
“We pray for his family and friends that they may be comforted at this time,” the club’s public relations officer said.
We need to wake up to the risk of a Trump presidency or even a close election that empowers his supporters to carry out the violence that is threatened toward immigrants and Muslims. A family in Saudi Arabia has lost their beloved child and a community of learners has been shattered by this cruel act. This may not turn out to be a hate crime, but that our thoughts immediately go this direction for a reason. We can’t be this kind of nation.
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