Hodžić: The Amount of Racism After Begić's Murder is Concerning

The murder of Zemir Begić (32), a Bosnian who had lived in the US since 1996 and recently in St. Louis, who was beaten to death with hammers by five minors on Sunday, has stirred up spirits in this part of the US, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Although the police confirmed that the motive for the attack was not that Begić was Bosnian, another much more important motive remains: racial intolerance. Namely, Begić was attacked at a time when protests are ongoing in nearby Ferguson over the killing of a minor black man, Michael Brown, by a police officer.

The police arrested two minors for Begić's murder, while a third (Robert Mitchell) surrendered. Two are African Americans, which leaves open the suspicion that this is a racially motivated crime.

Reactions to Begić's death continue. Robert Gentry expressed condolences to Begić's family on his Facebook profile.

- When will you take responsibility for your children and their behavior? Police are not here to babysit your children. One must admit and take responsibility for what is done. My deepest condolences to his wife and family. If no one else in the black community acknowledges this tragic death, I do. He was an innocent man and had nothing to do with what is happening. These kids killed him for no reason. R.I.P Zemir Begić - wrote Gentry.

On the other hand, the amount of racism on forums and pages that gather Bosniaks in the US after the murder of Zemir Begić is concerning, wrote Refik Hodžić, a long-time associate of the Hague Tribunal and now Director of Communications at the International Center for Transitional Justice.

- The rhetoric of hatred directed at the black community, calls for arming, defense, and "taking over the streets" are much closer to the state of mind of those who killed Begić, but also Michael Brown, than to the thinking of the community they are targeting. There is a great responsibility on Bosniak leaders in America, primarily religious ones, to send a clear message about the destructiveness of racism for a community that itself was a victim of it - wrote Hodžić.