Jordan Ghawi

Jordan Ghawi is the brother of Jessica Ghawi, murdered in the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

When he appeared on MSNBC's The Ed Show, with guest host Michael Eric Dyson, he had an agenda.

Ghawi's agenda was NOT to allow the killing of his sister and the other victims to be politicized.

He wants the victims to be known by the public as real people. He doesn't want them to become pawns in some larger discussion about gun control or anything else.

Ghawi especially doesn't want the shooter to be elevated by the media, because that's exactly what the shooter hoped to achieve by committing his crimes.

Transcript

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: You met with President Obama yesterday. Did he have anything inspiring or hopeful to tell you? What did he tell you?

JORDAN GHAWI: He came in knowing about my sister, as he did with the other victims. And he sat down with us as a group and as individuals, and we made sure that he knew more about each and every one of the victims when he left.

DYSON: Sure. Do you think that there should be a push for tighter gun laws given the horror that you've just endured and how it has impacted you personally? Do you feel compelled to push for tighter gun laws?

GHAWI: Here's the thing: We can try to politicize this and make some sort of polarizing debate and make this a tenet of the election, but that's not what we're here to do right now. We're here to celebrate the lives of the victims that have been lost.

If somebody wants to do harm to somebody, they're going to find a way to do it, whether it be with a weapon, such as a rifle, or whether it be with any sort of means. We should actually start to think about why people are doing this. And the reason they're doing this is because they want their names out there.

You look at Breivik. He killed 77 people in Oslo so that he could get his manifesto out there. He wanted those 600 pages read by the world. And what we're doing right now by talking about this shooter rather than talking about the families is we're providing them with a platform, a platform that they're using to get their names and their stories out there.

DYSON: Well, why don't we talk about the platform you have to tell us about your sister. Tell us about her story, and what makes her life so compelling to us.

GHAWI: Well, it's just not just my sister. It's the other families. I mean, you look inside of this and amidst chaos three people arose as heroes. You had John, Alex, and Matt, who all died to protect the ones that they loved. And this was a chaotic scene. These people had dreams. These people had promise. These people had so much more to live for and they were all cut short. So now it's about getting their stories out there, not just my sister. My sister's story been told. I want the rest of the victims to come out there and explain their stories to you and to the rest of the world, and get this coward's name and this coward's image off of the national media circuit.

DYSON: Certainly a humanistic impulse in the midst of incredible grief and agony. We thank you so much, Jordan Ghawi, for joining us here tonight.

GHAWI: Thank you.

Here's video.