Approximately 100 students came out to the “Vigil for Peace” at Marsh Plaza Saturday evening in remembrance of those recently killed in acts of terror in Beirut, Baghdad and Paris.
Mackenzie McGraw, a freshman in the School of Education, organized the event via Facebook Friday evening.
“The vigil was a good way to unite all of us with all of our different backgrounds with common ground. [The event page] started with about 32 people, and [by Saturday] it [had] catapulted into several people sharing the event,” McGraw said before the vigil. “We even had Dean [of Students Kenneth Elmore] and the BU community on Twitter share the event.”
Bridget Baker, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she reached out to McGraw after seeing the vigil’s Facebook event page and she “was more than 120 percent in support.”
“In times like this, there is strength in numbers,” Baker said before the vigil.
McGraw and Baker said within the first few hours of the page’s creation that students began to reach out and requested to speak at the vigil.
One of these students, Ibrahim Rashid, a freshman in CAS, said he reached out to Mackenzie to offer his perspective as a Muslim student on common anti-Muslim sentiment.
“It’s important to come out here [to the vigil] and let people know that not all refugees are terrorists, even if they are Muslim,” Rashid said before the vigil. “As a Muslim, I stand against these acts of terror and I don’t think they’re okay.”
During the vigil, as Rashid spoke to the students in attendance, sobs could be heard as he denounced the Islamic State group and terrorism in general.
“My name is Ibrahim, I am a Muslim, and I feel pain for the people of Beirut, Paris and Baghdad,” Rashid said. “My name is Ibrahim, I am a Muslim, and I denounce the attack of terror against humanity. My name is Ibrahim, I am a Muslim, I’m not a terrorist, I’m just like you. And like you, I stand against these acts of terror.”
Destiny Broadnax, a freshman in the Questrom School of Business, read aloud during the vigil an untitled poem by Indian blogger Karuna Ezara Parikh that has been circulating around social media since the Paris terror attacks Friday night.
“Say a prayer for Paris by all means, but pray more for the world that does not have a prayer, for those who no longer have a home to defend,” Broadnax recited.
Broadnax said the general public should pray for all victims of terrorist attacks and pay more attention to social media’s response rather than news organizations’ coverage.
“The [news] media is so limited on what information they choose to release, but with social media we are able to get the full story,” Broadnax said.
McGraw and Baker stressed their appreciation for those who helped make the vigil possible, specifically those who attended.
“We’d like to thank all of you, for coming and being here,” McGraw said. “It feels really good that something that started so small can come together to unite the university from the bottom level to the top.”
Several attendees agreed that it was necessary to gather as a united front against terrorism.
Francis Frimpong, a freshman in CAS, said it is important for people of different ethnicities stand together.
“It’s important that we come out and show that not every person who is a part of a group, that means ‘bad’ [and they are] a horrible person,” Frimpong said.
Louis Cressent, a junior exchange student from Paris, carried a French flag with several other students. Cressent said despite the difference, he doesn’t feel alone, since “Americans here bring support to [the French people] and not just to us but to Beirut [and Baghdad].”
“It’s a really weird feeling because I’m here, 6,000 kilometers away from my country, my city,” Cressent said. “All my family is alright, all my friends are alright, but I feel really sad tonight. All the places here in the world are sad tonight.”
