In collaboration with friends and family of Razan Abu-Salha, NC State campus partners hosted the first Run for Razan Saturday in Stafford Commons. Run for Razan is a 5k fundraiser held in memory of Abu-Salha, who was an avid runner and one of “our three winners”, the NC state alumni murdered in Chapel Hill on Feb. 10, 2015. Approximately 175 runners and 55 volunteers gathered to show their support for what Abu-Salha stood for.
Abu-Salha’s best friend, Yasmine Inaya, a senior studying sustainable materials and technology, with Doha Hindi, a senior studying science, technology and society, headed the coordination of the event.
“We really wanted to have an event that honored Razan, kind of showed people how special she is, so it only seemed fitting that we make a unique event for a unique person,” Inaya said. “Our goal was to raise awareness about what had happened on February 10th, and try to honor Razan in some special way.”
Inaya was thankful and amazed by the turnout of the event.
Colin Beamer, a senior studying political science, helped organize the event. He was also impressed by how the event was received.
“The conversation about this event literally started on the front porch of the Light-House,” Beamer said. “We literally just had an idea, and they said we are looking for somebody to make this happen, and so I joined in as just a coordinator, and from then on, the amount of people in the NC State community, the support that we’ve had from outside organizations, outside individuals, the community has just been unbelievable.”
Beamer finds in events such as Run for Razan an opportunity for community building, which he says makes them important for dismantling the fears and aggressions caused by a lack of communication and understanding.
“I think that these types of events allow individuals to come together in a setting that’s active but it’s also a community-building experience too, because these are people that do not necessarily know each other, so we have a lot of people from a lot of different communities coming together,” Beamer said. “The lasting impact that you walk away with is that you came together, you got to know some people that you might have not known before, and that’s just one step towards building the bridge across communities.”
Former Student Body President Paul Nolan, and senior studying material science and engineering, was among the volunteers at the event. He said the fundraiser was “incredible”, and looks forward to it becoming an annual event.
“It’s unfortunate, the event that it took us all to get here,” Nolan said. “But I think it’s fantastic to see that going forward, [we’re creating] bonds and partnerships with the local community over in Chapel Hill. It’s a remarkable experience, and I think it’s a huge success for the first event that we’ve ever had of this nature.”
Austin Chapel, senior studying architecture, participated as a runner with a group of his friends. He described the event as “significant” for many reasons.
“For me, Razan was in architecture,” Chapel said. “She was a year under us, and I didn’t know her personally, but I knew she was in the college, so that made it a little bit more personal, and then also just knowing the significance of the event.”
Casey James, a senior studying business administration, also participated as runner with her friends. James said that the event raised awareness about the murders that took place in 2015, when Abu-Salha, her sister Yusor and Yusor’s husband Deah Barakat were shot and killed in their home in Chapel Hill.
“I think it is important to bring awareness to what happened, because people are judged based on their race and their religion and that’s not ok,” James said. “Living in the world that we live in, just to be that we accept everyone for who they are and that you shouldn’t be defined on what you look like or what you believe in or anything along these [lines.]”
To donate to the Our Three Winners Foundation or learn more about Razan, Yusor and Deah, visit http://ourthreewinners.org.
