How a Boston student’s killing sparked a movement against police shooting among South Asian diaspora

On July 4, as many Americans celebrated the country’s independence day, the family and friends of Bangladeshi-origin student Arif Sayed Faisal in Boston commemorated six months since the police shooting that took his life.

Faisal’s killing has catalysed important conversations among Southasians on policing, racism as well as mental health, often a stigmatised issue in many households.

South Asians are directly affected by the policing of poorer neighbourhoods, associations with Islamophobic stereotypes, lack of cultural awareness, language barriers, and perceptions of security threat, including through associations with Blackness. Anti-Blackness among the community, too, remains a cause for concern.

Shot during mental health crisis

Faisal was killed on January 4 after the police responded to a 911 call about a man jumping from an apartment window with a knife and inflicting self-harm. The Cambridge police officers who arrived pursued Faisal, initially fired sponge bullets, then lethal shots, claiming failed de-escalation.

The officer who fired the shot that killed Faisal has been sent on paid administrative leave while the others involved remain on duty.

Since Faisal’s death, organisations have been protesting regularly under the banner of “Justice for Faisal”. He was a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and was home for the winter break.

The Justice For Faisal coalition on January 29 marched to the “Mystic Mural”,...

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