ITHACA, N.Y. — Following the attack Friday on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, members of the Cornell community are planning to gather on Ho Plaza to honor the many people who were killed.
The vigil will begin at 5 p.m. Monday, March 18, at Ho Plaza at Cornell and is hosted by the Muslim Chaplaincy at Cornell and Cornell Muslim Educational and Cultural Association. “We will share in community, pay our respects, and demonstrate the healing force of Love,” the Facebook event reads.
Fifty people were killed and dozens more were injured in what New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called a “terrorist attack” and one of the country’s “darkest days” after a white supremacist gunman targeted Muslims. According to the Associated Press, 28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant has been charged with murder in connection with the attacks. According to news reports, Tarrant published a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto online and live streamed 17 minutes of an attack.
In a statement to the campus community, Cornell President Martha Pollack said, “Yet again, our world has experienced a despicable, evil act of hatred: the Islamophobic murder of dozens of Muslims in their houses of worship in New Zealand. Such terrible acts make us furious, sad, and confused. But we must, each of us, continue to reject the bigotry and hatred that underlie such acts, and we must continue, in our individual ways, to lead lives of kindness. Today, my thoughts are with the victims and their families and with the Muslim members of our Cornell family.”
For more information, visit the Facebook event page.