Portland Mourns Men Who Stood Up To Hate

[Romero]

On the surface, Ricky John Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche appeared to lead very different lives. A retired Army veteran and a married father of four, 53-year-old Best worked for the city of Portland. At 23, Namkai-Meche was a recent college grad who worked at an consulting firm focused on environmental issues.



What they shared, according to friends and family, was a willingness to put others first and stand up to wrongdoing.



On Friday, Best and Namkai-Mechei were stabbed to death while traveling on one of Portland's MAX train ahead of Memorial Day Weekend. The men had stood up from their seats to confront a man harassing two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Police say Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, who has ties to white supremacy, targeted the girls for "religiously and racially motivated reasons."



"He was saying things about how Muslims should die and how they've been killing Christians for years," Dyjuana Hudson, one of the girls' mothers, said.



When Best and Namkai-Mechei tried to intervene, along with a third man, 21-year-old Micah David-Cole Fletcher, Christian violently attacked them. Fletcher survived the stabbing but remains hospitalized with serious injuries.



Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Saturday called all three men heroes.



"They were attacked because they did the right thing," Wheeler said. "Their actions were brave and selfless and should serve as an example and inspiration to us all."



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portland-stabbing-victims_us_592af6c9e4b0065b20b71b3e?4j&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009">//http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portland-stabbing-victims_us_592af6c9e4b0065b20b71b3e?4j&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[cc]

This was a despicable act by a well known white supremacist



I had previously introduced it into in another thread, but it did not have a headline of its own

[Romero]

Muslims Raise Over Half A Million Dollars For Portland Victims



Muslim Americans are raising money to support the families of three men who stood up to an anti-Muslim attacker on a train in Portland, Oregon over the Memorial Day weekend.



A LaunchGood fund set up by Muslim nonprofits the Muslim Education Trust and CelebrateMercy raised over $500,000 in the days following the attack.



"We wish to respond to hate with love, to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action," the organizers wrote.



The funds will primarily help cover short-term needs of the grieving families, including funeral and memorial expenses, the organizers said. Any extra funds will go towards helping the families manage long-term expenses.



The LaunchGood organizers said no amount of money could bring back Best and Namkai-Meche. "But we do hope to lessen their families' burdens in some way and also show our heartfelt appreciation for their heroic acts against Islamophobia," they wrote. "Let's all stand together against hate."



The deadly incident comes at a time when the United States is witnessing a surge in hate crimes since the 2016 presidential election. Many white supremacists and white nationalists felt emboldened by President Donald Trump's victory and, like Christian, defend their actions and statements under the guise of "free-speech."



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/muslims-raise-over-half-a-million-dollars-for-portland-victims_us_592eecafe4b0e09b11eccbd7?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009">//http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/muslims-raise-over-half-a-million-dollars-for-portland-victims_us_592eecafe4b0e09b11eccbd7?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[Anonymous]

This was a despicable act by a well known white supremacist



I had previously introduced it into in another thread, but it did not have a headline of its own

It's a senseless crime. It's good though you are no longer lumping all of it together with terrorism.