Baton Rouge Organizing held a vigil on Saturday in the Atchafalaya Room for the three Muslim students shot earlier this month at Chapel Hill.
During the vigil, members from around the LSU and Baton Rouge community spoke about the lives of the three victims, Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.
Majdal Ismail, an LSU student and co-organizer of this event, opened the vigil by describing the shootings as, “A hate crime,” that could have happened to her. 
Following her remarks, Blair Brown, an LSU student and co-organizer, stated that the death of these three students served as a reminder that, “We can’t be selective activists,” even if one doesn’t identify with the community that is suffering.
Brown then invited members of the Baton Rouge and Muslim community to come and speak about the shootings and their own experiences. 
Hafsah Mohammed, a Child Family Studies major and Muslim, explained that the shooting made her have doubts about wearing her hijab because she was afraid that she was marked.
The theme of being “marked” or “targeted” continued through the service as other shared their experiences.
Willy Jones, an African American student, spoke out about his experiences of being targeted as an African American, but urged members of the Muslim community to not let the feeling of being targeted stop them from embracing their identity.
The tone shifted when Ameer Habib, a Petroleum Engineering major, urged attendees to remember that Muslims in America aren’t the only ones who are targeted because this type of violence is happening to people around the world.
The vigil ended with Faran Saeed, a graduate assistant with Campus Life, urging the  non-Muslim community to learn more about Islam and realize that being Muslim isn’t what the media portrays.
Baton Rouge Organizing is a group that connects the community with existing progressive groups that work toward social justice and social advocacy.