After deadly San Diego mosque shooting, metro Atlanta Muslims call for unity and safety
Members of the Muslim community in metro Atlanta are putting out a call to action in preventing further tragedies at mosque locations across the country.
The push for addressing issues of violence, anti-muslim rhetoric, and faith-based hate has returned top of mind following a deadly shooting at a San Diego, California mosque this week where three people were killed and more than 100 children were at the time of the attack.
Metro Atlanta is home to dozens of mosques, including Roswell Community Masjid. A community vigil and prayer service was held Wednesday night at RCM as a way to remember the victims of the shooting, while highlighting the actions by the security guard that authorities said helped deter the possibility of more than 100 kids on site being harmed.
The vigil also shed light on the need for heightened vigilance, security, and acceptance among all groups of people as humans despite differences in faith or personal beliefs.
"The only way that we as a nation have made strides is only when we have made room for one another in our hearts," Imam Jaber said. "We're seeing a targeted attack on children at a mosque, and until we address this, we will continue to bury our brothers, sisters, and our children. The unfortunate reality, not only for mosques, but for our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community, other denominations, and faiths as well, is that security now has become a real issue, and that's really strange because people come to the house of worship to find God and find community. Brothers and sisters with different skin colors, accents, and different upbringings coming together to denounce this and to come together as a call to action that we must move forward with each other, humanizing each other, loving one another to address this today and tomorrow."
Dania is a member of RCM. She spent several years in San Diego for graduate school in a program that worked closely with the targeted mosque there. Dania said her immediate and extended family still lives in San Diego, and members of her family attend that mosque.
"One of my little cousins was at the mosque in school," Dania said. "He goes to the Islamic school there and he was there during the time of the attack. We watch unfortunately these things kinds of things unfold on the news, but you never think it's going to be your family. It adds more pain feeling one step closer to it. This is something that us as Muslims always are fearful of happening and we're always on high alert."
During the interview with CBS News Atlanta, Dania looked around and referenced where we were sitting as a place that has shifted from providing peace to possibly being a place where she must be more alert.
"In this particular room we're doing this interview in, I've come and just sat here in the middle of the day, studied, worked, prayed in the middle of the day, and now those are things that slowly are having to be taken away from us because we have to be super weary about not having an open door policy the same way we've had in the past because of these tragedies," she explained.
In attendance at Wednesday night's vigil were Roswell Mayor Mary Robichaux and other Roswell city leaders who wanted to show their support for the local Muslim community in person, along with numerous other faith leaders, community leaders, and interfaith allies.
Mayor Robichaux said, "We as a community of Roswell wanted to gather to show our support for our Muslim brothers and to show that we are here to support everyone in any way that we can."
The city of Roswell is part of ongoing discussions to launch an interfaith committee to further support the local Muslim community in conjunction with its faith leaders.
