Background:
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont, two of them while wearing keffiyehs, in a crime their families have said was “fueled by hate.”
Arabic echoes, a keffiyeh worn,
Symbols of heritage, on this morn.
Walking the streets of Burlington town,
Thanksgiving joy turned to a darkened frown.
Hisham Awartani, a mind so bright,
Math genius faltering in the hostile night.
A bullet’s strike, a spinal cord frail.
Kinnan and Tahseen, in silence laid.
Media’s echo, a political storm,
Antipalestinianism, a rising norm.
In Gaza’s throes, a toll so vast,
A legacy of pain, a shadow cast.