You may have heard of the hate crime committed last week on a light rail train in Portland Oregon. Three men confronted a man who was harassing two young Muslim women. The criminal stabbed two of the men to death and severely injured the third man.
Here is an excerpt from that story, about the third man who survived:
[i]“I’m proud of him for standing up.”
Micah Fletcher’s mother, Margie, said she knew her son was the type to standup to wrongdoing ― for better or worse.
“Micah’s always done that,” she told CNN. “I’ve always worried about it.”
His mother on Saturday said he was in “really bad condition.” Fletcher’s neck was punctured, his jaw broken and he had to undergo hours of surgery to remove bone fragments from his throat, according to CNN.
The Portland State University student is an avid poet whose works have addressed racism, bigotry and social justice. As a high school student in 2013, Fletcher won the Verselandia poetry slam with work that included a poem condemning anti-Muslim hate.
“I’m proud of him for standing up,” his mother said. “I’m grateful that he’s here. It’s hard for me to say I want people to stand up, but two girls might be alive because of them.” [/i]
I hope he fully recovers from his injuries and is able to deal with the likely post traumatic stress that can occur from such an unexpected incident. If he has difficulty doing so, I hope he finds some furry friends.
See also: https://literary-arts.org/what-we-do/wits-home/verselandia/