Micah Fletcher—the 21-year-old Portland, OR resident who survived a stab wound to the neck after intervening in a fight on the TriMet MAX train last week—posted a video to his Facebook wall on Wednesday, asking the public to shift their support from him to the two black teenage girls initially targeted with Islamophobic threats during the violent altercation.
The teens, one of whom has identified herself to press as 16-year-old Destinee Mangum, were riding the light-rail train on Friday, May 26, when known white supremacist Jeremy Joseph Christian boarded their car and began verbally abusing them because one was wearing a hijab. Three passengers—Ricky Best, 53, Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, and Fletcher—came to the girls’ aid, leading Christian to pull a knife. Both Best and Namkai-Meche were fatally stabbed in the resulting scuffle.
Fletcher, whose “wound was within millimeters of being fatal,” according to TIME, says he is grateful for the outpouring of support and the money that’s been donated to aid in his recovery and go to Best and Namkai-Meche’s families. Still, he is disappointed that the two teens—16 and 17—have seemingly been forgotten by the public.
“These people need to be reminded that this is about them, they are the real victims here as well,” he—now home from the hospital—says in the video.
He adds, “Suffice it to say that I think it’s immensely, immensely and morally wrong how much money we have gotten as opposed to the money, love, kindness that has been given to that little girl.”
Fletcher also indicted the notoriously liberal city of Portland for having a “white savior complex” (a problem with a lot of progressives), which lets them ignore the teens being targeted in favor of the white men who intervened. He then included a link to a fundraising page for the girls and encouraged viewers to donate.
Fletcher had an emotional reunion with Destinee Magnum on Wednesday night. Photos were posted by Destinee’s mother, Dyjuana Hudson, on her Facebook page.
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