I was deeply saddened and shocked when I heard about the two Indian Grad students killed in Baton Rouge, LA. However, when I heard about Abhijit's death so close to home, it was doubly shocking and saddening.
As a long time resident of Durham, NC and having been associated with Duke University and IIT for quite a while as well, this is too close to home not to be affected in a deeper fashion.
I would like to challenge the Greater Indian community (I mean the naturalized citizens, Green Card holders, student visa holders and the Indians living in India)to come together and turn the collective anger and grief into concrete action that will help prevent future incidents like these.
Here are my observations about Durham, NC and I will be glad to try and answer any questions any of you may have about the area.
1. There has been a lot of criminal activity targeted at hispanics lately (because of their immigration status largely). They are unable or unwilling to report crimes to police. This makes them an attractive target for gangsters and the usual unsavory characters. It is possible that because of where he lived, he may have been mistaken for one.
2. The area around Duke Univ is a low income (relatively speaking, but not a "high crime" district like Baltimore). This is not to say that crimes do not happen there. This is a subjective observation, of course.
3. There is a crying need to get the University administrators in the USA to react to crimes against "fo
