November 6, 1989: She called herself Tina Isa. "Tina" was short for the name her father gave her, "Palestina." That should have been the first sign that her story was going to come to a horrible end.
She was born in Brazil in 1972. Her mother, Maria, was a Brazilian Catholic; her father, Zein Isa, a Jordanian Muslim who called himself a "Palestinian." They moved to St. Louis, and she became an American citizen. Like most children who had no say in becoming immigrants, she wanted to fit in with her new country, and so got good grades, and made the honor roll. But she also listened to hip-hop, and liked talking about boys with her girl friends.
Her parents didn't like that. They wouldn't let her go out for school sports teams. They wouldn't let her go on school trips. They wouldn't let her get a job. They wouldn't let her date. Her father decided that he would choose a husband for her, and that he would be a man like himself: A "Palestinian" from the West Bank.
She disobeyed. She started dating a non-Muslim boy, and got a job at a nearby Wendy's. On November 6, 1989, this 17-year-old girl, on the surface like so many other 17-year-old girls in America, walked into her house, and her father called her a "bitch" and a "she-devil." He accused her of "fornication." He said, "You are going to die tonight." And he pulled a knife on her.
She begged her mother for help. Her mother did help -- her father, that is. The mother held her down, and the father stabbed her in the chest, over and over again, saying, "Die! Die quickly!" Which, having no choice in the matter, she did.
In his culture, it was called an "honor killing." In our culture, it is called "cold-blooded murder." In our law, it is called "murder in the first degree." And there is no honor in murdering your own child. Especially when her only provable "crimes" involved acting her age.
What Zein Isa did not know was that the FBI had bugged the house, because he was part of a jihadist terrorist cell they were investigating. The parents were both arrested the next day. They were convicted of murder, and, on December 20, 1991, they were sentenced to death. Zein died in prison from diabetes in 1997, before his sentence could be carried out. Maria's sentence was commuted to life in prison. She died in 2014, at age 70, still in prison where she belonged.
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November 6, 1989 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. On ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 31-13 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. This NFC Western Division game had originally been scheduled for New Orleans, but when the San Francisco Giants reached the National League Championship Series, it was switched with the October 8 game between the teams, to avoid a scheduling conflict.
This was also the Niners' 1st game at Candlestick since October 1, due to 2 intended road games, the switch, and the earthquake that struck during the World Series, forcing a home game to be moved from Candlestick to Stanford Stadium in nearby Palo Alto, California.
There was 1 game in the NBA: The New York Knicks lost to the Orlando Magic, 118-110 at the Orlando Arena. This was only the 2nd regular-season game ever for the expansion Magic: Two days earlier, on November 4, they beat the New Jersey Nets at home, 111-106.
And there were 4 games in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-1 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 3-3 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the Calgary Flames beat their arch-rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
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