Hollow Fires

A blog post describes the vandalism on Mirza Emporium, Safiya’s family’s store, noting that it’s being investigated as a hate crime by Chicago police: “The 14/88 numbers are believed to be a nod to white supremacy, 14 being a reference to the fourteen words of a slogan used by a white supremacist organization and the 88 symbolizing ‘heil Hitler’, H being the eighth letter of the alphabet” (240).

As the police swarm Mirza Emporium, Safiya asks her mom how she can be so calm. Her mom responds, “They want us to live in constant fear; we are not about to let them. Our existence is not controversial, and this is our home. Full stop. We don’t have to prove anything to anyone” (242). Safiya goes inside for a cup of tea and walks in on two of the officers reviewing the video footage. The vandalizer hid their face on camera. The officers—both white—ask Safiya some questions and she tells them about the Nietzschean quotes and her confrontation with Nate. The officers assume that because Safiya didn’t tell anyone about the incident, it must not have been too problematic. One officer asks her if Nate and Richard were fighting over her romantically or if Safiya didn’t tell her parents because, “‘maybe they don’t want you hanging with boys who aren’t your culture?’” (246).