It was nearly seven years ago that an unarmed man was shot to death by U.S. Park Police officers after he drove away from a fender bender on the George Washington Parkway. On Wednesday, Bijan Ghaisar’s family and friends dedicated a library to his memory on what would have been his 32nd birthday.
The quiet, reflective space of books and art has been established inside the Iranian American Community Center in Tysons, Virginia.
“You come into this room and you remember because you look at his picture, because you look at the (Bijan Ghaisar) Award, because you look at the books and thoughtfulness that his mother and father went through to design this space,” said Hossein Noshirvani, a longtime friend of the Ghaisar family, a board member of the Iranian American Community Center and a board member of the Bijan Ghaisar Foundation.
The donated books have a focus on Iranian history and culture.
“The community means a lot to my family, it meant a lot to my brother and I think that honoring him in his space is deeply personal for my parents and myself,” said Negeen Ghaisar, sister of Bijan Ghaisar.
She and her family reminisced how the children’s upbringing in Northern Virginia included studies at Persian school, where the Ghaisar children learned the Farsi language and traditional Iranian songs and dances.
“He would feel so proud of my parents and everyone else in this community that helped put this together,” Negeen Ghaisar said.
Noshirvani added, “We’ll be doing book clubs here, we’ll have smaller gatherings here, poetry readings, which Iranians are incredibly passionate about … The goal of the library is a smaller, more intimate space for people to come and get to know each other and exchange ideas.”
Last year, the Ghaisar family reached a $5 million settlement with the federal government in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
In 2019, the U.S. Justice Department declined to bring federal charges against the two officers who opened fire on the 25-year-old accountant, arguing there wasn’t enough evidence to disprove the officers’ claims that they acted in self-defense.
Manslaughter charges in Virginia against the officers, originally filed by the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2020, were later dismissed by a federal judge.
WTOP staff contributed to this report.
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