PHILADELPHIA -- On a typical day running the Philadelphia Arabs Facebook page, Mohammad Abuhillo posts a little bit of everything: traffic news, live videos from the Schuykill River Trail, soccer watch parties and Middle Eastern restaurant openings.
But one February day, Abuhillo received a message on his page: A man was shot in the head while delivering pizzas in North Philadelphia, and the victim was believed to be Arab. A few hours later, he received a call from a nurse practitioner at Temple University Hospital who was familiar with the Facebook page.
“She said, ‘I believe he might be Algerian, and as far as we know he has no family. I don’t know what to do, but I know you guys always step up when somebody’s Arab,’” Abuhillo said.
