“Without them, we probably would be dead right now,” Destinee Mangum said.
A hate crime in Portland, Oregon made national news when a man harassing two teenage girls resulted in two men dying.
Destinee Mangum, 16, and her friend who is Muslim (wearing a hijab) were riding a MAX train Friday. A man named Joseph Christian, 35, approach the two teens and started shouting racial slurs and harassing them.
Three men stood up to Christian to get him away from the teens. Ricky John Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, intervened on the girls’ behalf and were fatally stabbed. A third man who confronted Christian, 21-year-old Micah David-Cole Fletcher, survived the attack.
Christian is reported to be a white supremacist and has been seen on video at alt-right protests. He was arrested Saturday and has been charged with offenses including two counts of aggravated murder, one of attempted murder and two counts of intimidation in the second degree.
