Open Letter from a Mass Casualty Survivor to UC Athletic Director

In an open letter shared publicly, Brandi Hicken recounted the emotional cost of attending the BYU vs. Cincinnati football game, a planned "date night" intended to help her family find "some sort of safety and normalcy again" following an attack on her church two months prior. The attack, driven by anti-Mormon hatred, resulted in a truck ramming the building, arson, and gunfire, wounding her husband and five-year-old daughter.

Hicken described the immense courage it took to attend the game, noting, "I was nervous putting on my BYU fan gear that day because I knew it would identify me as one of 'the Mormons.'" Despite her debilitating anxiety, she continued, "We came. We smiled. We cheered. We enjoyed ourselves….Until the University of Cincinnati fans began to chant ‘F*** the Mormons.’"

She explains that while she has heard the chant before, the recent violence makes it intolerable: "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."

Hicken noted a stadium announcement warning against such chants but pleaded with Athletic Director Mr. Cunningham for stronger enforcement. She urged him to "Remove them from the game. Don’t let them come back. Educate them on the seriousness of their actions." The letter concludes with a request for the ability to enjoy life "without the fear of being targeted and attacked for our religious beliefs," signed by Hicken as a "mass casualty hate crime survivor" and "a human deserving of respect."

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