Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an 18-year-old Somali refugee, used a car and a butcher knife to attack students at Ohio State University. Artan killed one person and wounded 11 in the attack.
Artan first used a silver Honda to plow into people, then he got out and began attacking others with a butcher knife. He was then promptly shot and killed by OSU Police Officer Alan Horujko, a genuine American hero.
Artan and his family fled Somali in 2007 for Pakistan. I’m not sure how that’s an upgrade. Somali and Pakistan are both on my list of places I don’t ever want to visit.
Artan then moved to the United States in 2014 and was granted refugee status.
A refugee from what? Somali, a place he hadn’t lived in since he was nine? He came here from Pakistan, a country far more hospitable to his particular religious sensibilities than the United States.
He first attended Columbus State Community College for two years, earning an associate degree, before transferring to Ohio State University. If he was 18, that means he was 16 when he came to the United States and began community college.
This past August, Artan was featured in the OSU student newspaper, the Ohio State Lantern. In it, he complained about not having prayer rooms on campus and how people look at Muslims.
He said:
I just transferred from Columbus State. We had prayer rooms, like actual rooms where we could go pray because we Muslims have to pray five times a day. There’s Fajr, which is early in the morning, at dawn. Then Zuhr during the daytime, then Asr in the evening, like right about now. And then Maghrib, which is like right at sunset and then Isha at night. I wanted to pray Asr. I mean, I’m new here. This is my first day. This place is huge, and I don’t even know where to pray. I wanted to pray in the open, but I was scared with everything going on in the media. I’m a Muslim, it’s not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don’t know what they’re going to think, what’s going to happen. But, I don’t blame them. It’s the media that put that picture in their heads so they’re just going to have it and it, it’s going to make them feel uncomfortable. I was kind of scared right now. But I just did it. I relied on God. I went over to the corner and just prayed.
His first day at Ohio State University and he complained about not having special prayer rooms and how the media portrays Muslims.
What an asshole.
It’s not the media that paints an unfair picture of Muslims. Muslims paint their own picture. Whether it’s unfair or not depends greatly on your perspective. I imagine the family members of the person killed yesterday are thinking the negative reputation Islam has is pretty accurate.
Now that he’s dead, it will be interesting to see what happens to his corpse. If his remains are treated like all the other terrorists who’ve killed Americans on American soil, he’ll get a nice burial at a normal, non-radical Muslim cemetery. His body will be buried next to other Muslims. For years, his family and other people will be able to visit his grave and pay their respects.
Abdul Razak Ali Artan deserves no respect. He was a terrorist. There should be a law against the burial of terrorists on U.S. soil. Instead of releasing his body to his family, it should be taken out to international waters and dumped at sea.
Jose Rodriguez says
Interesting outlook Rick. I thought you were a tree hugging leftist.
Rick Rottman says
I’m liberal on most social issues. I don’t like hugging trees because that seems like a good way to get sap on your clothing. 🙂 I was a Democrat going into the general election, but I changed my registration to “unaffiliated” before the general. I then voted for Hillary. Not because I wanted to, but because I just couldn’t vote for any of the alternatives. I’m glad she lost. I only wish Trump could have lost too.
One of the many problems with the current Democratic Party is the seemingly inability for anyone in authority to use the words “Islamic” and “terrorist” in the same paragraph. Considering that we’ve been at war with Islamic terrorists since the attack on the USS Cole over 16 years ago, I’ve got a problem with that.
On a more important note, did you see that Kate Bush put out a new album?
Jose Rodriguez says
Yes Rick, I listened to it. The mature Ms. Bush lacks the unbridled passion of her youth that was so evident in her earlier albums. Being a fair weather person, I just found it difficult to listen to a six minute soliloquy about snow. On a more somber note, I had an acute heart attack about four months ago. My right coronary artery was totally blocked so I needed an emergent angioplasty and two stents. I’m doing well now and I’ve started back on a jogging routine. Last year, I ran the rock’n’roll half marathon with Dave Cronauer in San Antonio.