'What is US doing to stop hate crime?' Kuchibhotla's wife asks in viral post
The wife of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the engineer from Hyderabad who was killed in a shooting at a bar in Kansas last Wednesday, wrote her first Facebook post after husband’s death, raising questions about the security of immigrants in the US.
She asked the US government about the steps they are going to take to stop hate crime in the country.
“Many times, these issues are talked about for a few weeks and people tend to forget about them afterward, but the fight must go on towards eradicating hatred from the minds of people. So what is the government going to do to stop hate crime?” Sunayana Dumala wrote in the Facebook post, which has gone viral.
“Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?” she wrote further.
Dumala also recalled the night the police arrived at her home to give her the news of Kuchibhotla’s death, and said she “could not believe their words”.
“When police came to our house that night and gave me the news of my husband’s life being taken away by a random shooter, I could not believe their words, it was so surreal. I asked them repeatedly, ‘Are you sure?’, ‘Are you telling the truth?’, ‘Did you see the man you are talking about?’, ‘Can you show me a picture to identify?’, ‘Is the man that you are talking about 6’ 2’’?’ They were just nodding their heads saying yes,” she wrote.
Kuchibhotla was killed in a firing at a bar in Olathe, Kansas, by US Navy veteran Adam Purinton. His friend and an American national, who tried to intervene and stop the attack, were also injured in the shooting.
In the post, Dumala also shared how the incident shattered their dream of raising a child. “We were planning to expand our own family… I am writing this as it sinks in to me that this dream of ours is now shattered. I really wish we had a child of our own in whom I could at least see Srinivas and make him like Srinu,” she wrote.
Paying tribute to her husband in the post, Dumala recalled her husband as “the epitome of optimism”.
She also mentioned in the post that he was “proud” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “He was sure that India had finally found the leader that could make India shine,” she wrote.
She finally sought people’s support to “pass this strong message of spreading love and giving confidence to every foreign national that their fight will be listened to”.
