$600,000 raised for 'heroes' killed defending Muslim teen

Two men were killed and one severely injured in Portland, Oregon defending two girls from racial abuse


News Desk May 29, 2017
Taliesin Namkai Meche was killed defending two young girls from racial abuse. PHOTO: Facebook/Aurora Dachen

A sum of $600,000 was raised to donate to the families of three heroes from the US who had defended a Muslim teenager and her friend on a train in Portland Oregon on Friday.


Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, Ricky John Best and Micah David-Cole Fletcher had intervened when a man had launched a racist verbal attack against the teens of whom one was wearing a hijab, saying "all Muslims should die". The attacker, Jeremy Joseph Christian, turned on the three and brutally attacked them.


Best died at the scene, while Meche passed away in hospital. Fletcher survived, but is currently in a serious condition.


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The attacker was arrested and is due to appear in court on Tuesday charged with two aggravated murders, attempted murder and intimidation.


The three men have been labelled 'heroes' in their community as well as by the Muslim teenage girl, 16-year-old Destinee Mangum. "I just want to say thank you to the people who put their life on the line for me, because they didn't even know me and they lost their lives because of me and my friend and the way we look," she told KPTV. 


Approximately 1,000 people came together for a vigil in memory of Namkai Meche, a recent college graduate and 53-year-old army veteran Best on Saturday.

PHOTO: Twitter @LSARSOUR

PHOTO: TWITTER @LSARSOUR PHOTO: Twitter @LSARSOUR

The city's mayor, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and governor Kate Brown also paid tributes to the men. However, US President Donald Trump has not mentioned anything regarding the attack yet.

A tweet sent out by a reporter asking if Trump had any comments has been liked over 4,000 times, while an open letter written by a veteran journalist, Dan Rather, asking Trump to speak about their deaths has been shared over 100,000 times on Facebook.

Dan wrote: "Two Americans have died leaving family and friends behind. They are mourned by millions more who are also deeply worried about what might come next. I hope you can find it worthy of your time to take notice."

The injured victim Micah is recovering from his knife wound which, according to his mother, was "a millimetre" away from his jugular vein.

Micah posted a picture on social media from his hospital bed with a poem that read "I spat in the eye of hate and lived."

 

This article originally appeared on BBC News. 

COMMENTS (3)

JD | 6 years ago | Reply What is this world coming to...?
Ch. Allah Daad | 6 years ago | Reply Every Muslim esp. those residing in Western countries should contribute to help families of these martyrs.
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