Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing
Rais Bhuiyan is a Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing. Please read his amazing story.
http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2011/October/How_Rais_Bhuiyan_Forgave_the_Man_Who_Shot_Him_in_the_Face.aspx
Could You Forgive the Man Who Shot You in The Face?
In the days after 9/11, a Dallas man named Mark Stroman went on a revenge killing spree. Rais Bhuiyan survived and, a decade later, tried to stop Stroman’s execution.
by Michael J. Mooney
Published 9.21.2011
From D Magazine OCT 2011
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Bhuiyan underwent years of surgery and had long needles inserted into his eye.
portrait by Trevor Paulhus
Rais Bhuiyan is blind in one eye. His left eye is strong, intense, with perfect vision. It will follow you through a conversation, registering even a subtle change in posture or facial expression. But his right eye, even after years of surgeries, will never be more than a sluggish ornament that he wears for the sake of symmetry. It’s a symbol of what was taken from him—of what he was left with. The eye sits off to the side a bit, picking up only shades of light. He has no depth perception or peripheral vision, making it difficult to walk across unfamiliar territory without bumping into things or to play soccer without embarrassing himself. He has had to train his mind to look through only his good eye. Now, though, he says he sees things he’s never seen before.
He used to have 20/10 vision in both eyes, and he was a pilot in the Bangladeshi air force. That was before he came to America—to Texas—in pursuit of higher learning. Before a white supremacist lifted a shotgun to his face and blasted searing-hot pellets through his right pupil. Before his wife left him, he lost his job, and he became homeless and terrified to talk to strangers. Before years of operations—dozens of long needles inserted into his eye—and a decade of piecing his life back together. It was only after all of this that Rais Bhuiyan, the 5-foot-6 immigrant with a soft voice and one very focused eye, sued the state of Texas to stop the execution of the man who shot him.
The first thing 27-year-old Rais Bhuiyan (pronounced Boo-yon) did when he got to the Texaco station every day was read the headlines in the Dallas Morning News. On September 17, 2001, he read something terrifying: a convenience store clerk had been shot and killed a few blocks away. Bhuiyan begged his boss, the owner of the station, to reinstall the security cameras—he’d already received a few tense glares in the days after 9/11—but money was tight. Bhuiyan had dreams in which customers suddenly pulled out guns and started shooting at him. He had been working at the station in Mesquite for only a few months and he’d already been robbed once. At the time, he thought the man was trying to sell him a handgun.
“How much?” Bhuiyan asked when he saw the weapon.
The man pulled back the hammer with his thumb—click. “No, amigo.”
This wasn’t the America he’d hoped to find when he left his family, his new bride, and his promising career as an officer in the military. He came for the best education in the world. He’d moved to New York in 1999 and won a green card lottery the next year. In May 2001, he moved to Dallas, where a friend was opening a gas station. Everything seemed so much cheaper here than in New York, and the area had so many universities to choose from. He worked 13-hour days at the station, saving money for when he could bring his wife to America.
Bhuiyan wasn’t supposed to be working the morning shift on September 21, 2001, but the only other employee had quit a few days earlier. It was raining giant droplets all morning and business was slow. Around 12:30, a man from the barbershop next door came in to buy a bag of chips and a drink. Not two minutes after he left, Bhuiyan looked out the window to see a white man with his face covered and something shiny and black in his hand.
Mark Stroman was a 31-year-old meth addict and father of four. He had a web of neo-Nazi tattoos and a long criminal record that included a litany of robberies and assaults. His father...
Could You Forgive the Man Who Shot You in The Face?
In the days after 9/11, a Dallas man named Mark Stroman went on a revenge killing spree. Rais Bhuiyan survived and, a decade later, tried to stop Stroman’s execution.
by Michael J. Mooney
Published 9.21.2011
From D Magazine OCT 2011
DiscussEmailPrint.
Bhuiyan underwent years of surgery and had long needles inserted into his eye.
portrait by Trevor Paulhus
Rais Bhuiyan is blind in one eye. His left eye is strong, intense, with perfect vision. It will follow you through a conversation, registering even a subtle change in posture or facial expression. But his right eye, even after years of surgeries, will never be more than a sluggish ornament that he wears for the sake of symmetry. It’s a symbol of what was taken from him—of what he was left with. The eye sits off to the side a bit, picking up only shades of light. He has no depth perception or peripheral vision, making it difficult to walk across unfamiliar territory without bumping into things or to play soccer without embarrassing himself. He has had to train his mind to look through only his good eye. Now, though, he says he sees things he’s never seen before.
He used to have 20/10 vision in both eyes, and he was a pilot in the Bangladeshi air force. That was before he came to America—to Texas—in pursuit of higher learning. Before a white supremacist lifted a shotgun to his face and blasted searing-hot pellets through his right pupil. Before his wife left him, he lost his job, and he became homeless and terrified to talk to strangers. Before years of operations—dozens of long needles inserted into his eye—and a decade of piecing his life back together. It was only after all of this that Rais Bhuiyan, the 5-foot-6 immigrant with a soft voice and one very focused eye, sued the state of Texas to stop the execution of the man who shot him.
The first thing 27-year-old Rais Bhuiyan (pronounced Boo-yon) did when he got to the Texaco station every day was read the headlines in the Dallas Morning News. On September 17, 2001, he read something terrifying: a convenience store clerk had been shot and killed a few blocks away. Bhuiyan begged his boss, the owner of the station, to reinstall the security cameras—he’d already received a few tense glares in the days after 9/11—but money was tight. Bhuiyan had dreams in which customers suddenly pulled out guns and started shooting at him. He had been working at the station in Mesquite for only a few months and he’d already been robbed once. At the time, he thought the man was trying to sell him a handgun.
“How much?” Bhuiyan asked when he saw the weapon.
The man pulled back the hammer with his thumb—click. “No, amigo.”
This wasn’t the America he’d hoped to find when he left his family, his new bride, and his promising career as an officer in the military. He came for the best education in the world. He’d moved to New York in 1999 and won a green card lottery the next year. In May 2001, he moved to Dallas, where a friend was opening a gas station. Everything seemed so much cheaper here than in New York, and the area had so many universities to choose from. He worked 13-hour days at the station, saving money for when he could bring his wife to America.
Bhuiyan wasn’t supposed to be working the morning shift on September 21, 2001, but the only other employee had quit a few days earlier. It was raining giant droplets all morning and business was slow. Around 12:30, a man from the barbershop next door came in to buy a bag of chips and a drink. Not two minutes after he left, Bhuiyan looked out the window to see a white man with his face covered and something shiny and black in his hand.
Mark Stroman was a 31-year-old meth addict and father of four. He had a web of neo-Nazi tattoos and a long criminal record that included a litany of robberies and assaults. His father...
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