The brutal murder of Nabra Hassanen and the desecration of her memorial highlight how oppression takes multiple forms in America. Authorities have labelled the killing an incident of ‘road rage’, thereby diverting attention from the real culprit — rampant Islamophobia in the US. Only weeks before Nabra’s brutal murder, a group of Muslim girls were verbally harassed by a white man. In another incident, a Somali woman was physically assaulted by an alleged white supremacist. The destruction of Nabra’s memorial disproves the authorities’ claim that her murder was an isolated incident of road rage. Rather, it serves to highlight the extent to which Muslims are dehumanised in the US, and how some segments of American society cannot allow Muslims to celebrate the life of a young woman. The attempt of the authorities to depict the murder as an isolated act, moreover, depicts the structural bias endemic to America’s power structure. Had the situation been reversed and a Muslim attacked a white American, the authorities and the media would have had no qualms in labelling the attack an act of terrorism and a product of ‘radical’ Islam. Nabra’s killing also points to the dangerous convergence of racism and misogyny that is all too common in America. Nabra along with the recent victims of Islamophobia mentioned here were all women of colour. All of them were physically and emotionally targeted by men. This is no coincidence, if we may be so bold. Nabra’s killing is a result of this structural and institutionalised prejudice where racism, misogyny and Islamophobia meet. We stand in solidarity with Nabra and with all minorities who are victims of hate crimes. * Published in Daily Times, June 25th, 2017.