When I read about the controversy over the burial of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the dead Boston bombing suspect, I was shocked to see the things people proposed be done with the body. Some argued for burial at sea, others for cremation. Online insults called for his body to "rot above ground" and "be eaten by pigs" or "wrapped in bacon."
Why is he so much more vilified than others accused of terrorist acts?" Why should he be treated with less respect than Adam Lanza, the man who murdered 20 elementary school kids?
Lanza was an American Catholic, Tsarnaev a Chechen immigrant of Islamic faith whose family was fleeing political persecution. One was born into freedom, the other came in search of it. Before the bombing, Tsarnaev lived and worked for 10 years as part of his community. One man killed 20 elementary kids and six adult women, while the other killed three people and injured dozens. It seems apparent that both were coldblooded killers.
After a cemetery finally accepted Tsarnaev's body, critics sent threats and hate mail, so it is being transferred to another "undisclosed" cemetery. Yet Lanza's body lies peacefully in his hometown.
In America, a Chechen Islamic man deserves the same treatment as a Catholic American man. What happened to "this land is your land, this land is my land"?
