Two months after the horrific shooting and fire at a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in Grand Blanc, Michigan, that left four dead and injured five others, one victim and her husband traveled to Ohio to attend the BYU vs. Cincinnati football game on Saturday.
Craving normalcy, Brandi Hicken and her husband, Jared Hicken — both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Grand Blanc — were enjoying the game when they heard the Cincinnati student section yelling “hurtful and hateful chants.”
Jared Hicken and the couple’s 5-year-old daughter were both shot in the Grand Blanc attack on Sept. 28; running with their 15-month-old baby and their 3-year-old in her arms, Brandi Hicken was struck in her back with shrapnel.
Having just been the victims of religious hate, Brandi Hicken said the students’ words, “(expletive) the Mormons,” felt personal.
“It needs to stop,” she told the Deseret News. “It just needs to end.”
The couple discussed the chants on their drive home from the football game. “It was super disheartening,” said Brandi Hicken. “I just felt sick. This can’t keep happening.”
Maybe, she determined, because of her experiences with hate, her words will “carry more weight.”
“Maybe they will listen,” she thought.
When she got home, she wrote a letter to University of Cincinnati athletic director John Cunningham, explaining why words matter.
“Someone with hatred in their heart rammed their truck into the front of our church building, entered the chapel, and began shooting us and setting our church on fire while many people were still hiding inside,” she said in the letter, which she posted on social media.
While her husband and daughter have both recovered physically, and the family is mending from the emotional trauma, Hicken pleaded with Cunningham to take action to address the chants. She has not received a response from Cunningham or anyone else at the University of Cincinnati.
“This is not a new chant. This is not a chant that is specific to your university,” she wrote. “However, now that we Mormons have been quite literally targeted, attacked, chased, shot at, and some of us have been killed simply for being ‘Mormon,’ this chant is no longer just disheartening. It’s crippling. It’s personal. It’s unacceptable. Period.”
Brandi Hicken said her family is getting back to normal life.
After the trauma — the attack has been at the forefront our their minds every day for the past two months — they are trying to do the things they like to do. “Life will go on and life will be fun and happy again,” she said. “I want to feel normal again. We are going to events, to sports games.”
But Brandi Hicken wonders why college athletics, university administrators and the public continue to tolerate the “hurtful and hateful chanting.”
“If it had been other types of chants, it would not have been tolerated, and it should not be tolerated,” she said. “This isn’t OK.”
The letter to University of Cincinnati
Following is Brandi Hicken’s full letter to Cunningham:
“Dear Mr. Cunningham,
“I am writing to you from my heart as a disheartened college football fan. More specifically, as a BYU football fan and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commonly know as ‘the Mormons.’
“As a BYU alumni and huge fans of college football, my husband and I took the opportunity to travel 4.5 hours from our little city in Grand Blanc, Michigan to come spectate and enjoy our favorite pass time at the BYU vs. Cincinnati football game at Nippert Stadium last night.
“I want to provide a little bit of background for you in order to portray the strength and courage it took for us to travel to this event and really try to enjoy ourselves.
“You see, just eight short weeks ago, while attending church, we were attacked at our place of worship simply for being ‘Mormon.’
“Someone with hatred in their heart rammed their truck into the front of our church building, entered the chapel, and began shooting us and setting our church on fire while many people were still hiding inside. As my family (me, my husband, and our three young children), ran for our lives, my husband and my 5 year old daughter were both shot. I was also running with my 15 month old baby and my 3 year old in my arms as I was struck in my back with shrapnel. I will spare you any further details about the nightmare we lived through that day and the recovery that has followed, but miraculously, me and my family all made it out alive.
“The anxiety and fear we have felt since that day has been debilitating. We have put in a lot of work in that short 8 weeks so we can try to feel some sort of safety and normalcy again and enjoy the things we used to, including football games.
“We had been planning to come see this game for months as we don’t get the opportunity to see many BYU games in person since we moved across the country for my husband’s medical training. We almost didn’t come because it felt scary and overwhelming since the attack on our church. However, we know we cannot live in fear and we need to enjoy the things that used to make us happy. We decided to come and that took a lot for us both mentally and physically. I was nervous putting on my BYU fan gear that day because I knew it would identify me as one of ‘the Mormons.’ I did it anyway.
“I was apprehensive when I walked down to my seat and saw that the nearest exit was pretty far from me. I continued to my seat anyway. We came. We smiled. We cheered. We enjoyed ourselves….Until the University of Cincinnati fans began to chant ‘(expletive) the Mormons.’
“This is not a new chant. This is not a chant that is specific to your university. This is a chant I’ve heard before while enjoying a football game whether in-person or on tv. It’s always disheartening to hear. However, now that we Mormons have been quite literally targeted, attacked, chased, shot at, and some of us have been killed simply for being ‘Mormon,’ this chant is no longer just disheartening. It’s crippling. It’s personal. It’s unacceptable. Period.
“While I did hear the announcer give a warning over the speakers at the game that such chants will not be tolerated, it was simply just that- a warning. It was not just a few fans, it was tens, possibly hundreds of the university’s student fans chanting ‘F*** the Mormons.’
“Please, Mr. Cunningham, do not tolerate it. Remove them from the game. Don’t let them come back. Educate them on the seriousness of their actions. Set that standard and expectation moving forward and enforce it. We are hurting. Badly. We just want to enjoy the things that make us happy again without the fear of being targeted and attacked for our religious beliefs.
“I know you have no control over the Cincy fans on the shuttle after the game ranting about Mormons and how awful we are and how we must have just paid off the refs because we’re corrupt and evil. I don’t get it, but I am used to it. It’s not new to me to hear this stuff and these huge misconceptions about my faith. But now it is personal. Now it is me fearing for my life everywhere I go because someone decided to take it there. Someone tried to kill me, my kids, and my husband. Someone killed 4 of my friends. Now the chanting means something more than it used to.
“I know you can’t control the actions and words of the fans on the bus. However, I do believe you have the ability to get control of the students’ hurtful and hateful chanting.
“If you made it this far, thank you for listening. If I am mistaken about any actions that were or were not taken as a result of the chanting, please feel free to correct me.
“I would welcome the reassurance.
“Sincerely,
“Brandi Hicken
“A fellow college football fan
“A Mormon
“A Christian
“A mass casualty hate crime survivor
“A human deserving of respect”
Public apology for the chants
In regards to offensive chants directed at BYU, Cunningham issued a statement of apology Monday.
“On behalf of the University of Cincinnati and Bearcats Athletics, I want to sincerely apologize to the BYU community and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Cunningham said.
“The use of offensive or religiously derogatory language by a group of fans during Saturday’s game was unacceptable and does not reflect our values. We remain committed to creating an environment at Nippert Stadium where every visiting team and its supporters are treated with dignity and respect.”