By Nidra Poller
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 12, 2004
In November, 2003, Sebastien Selam, a popular 23-year old Jewish DJ, known to his fans as DJ LamC, was murdered by an Arab neighbor. His throat was slit twice; his face was atrociously mutilated. The grisly crime was barely reported in the French press, the probable anti-Semitic motive was underplayed or denied, the affair has not been followed by Jewish or mainstream media with the notable exception of Rosenpress.[i]

When Alyssa Lappen reported on the murder for FrontPage Magazine [ii] she had to rely on the sparse information I provided, backed up by her own research and journalistic intuition. Finally, three months later, I was able to contact the mother of the slain DJ. The conversation took place on February 29, 2004 in Madame Selam’s apartment in the presence of more than a dozen friends and family members. The conversation recorded here is not an interview–it is an encounter between an inconsolable bereaved mother and a motherly woman who commiserates. There is no pretension to journalistic objectivity. No digging for the facts. The conversation is a monumental understatement. These are the words we exchanged as we skirted the reality that neither could bear to evoke.

Nidra Poller: Madame Selam, welcome. Thank you for accepting to speak to me about this terrible crime. I know how hard it is.

Madame Juliette Selam: Thank you for coming to see me.

N. P.: First, I would like to ask you to tell us in your own way what happened to your son Sebastien.

J. S.: What happened is that evening he had a job, he was going out to go out to work that night, and before that he had gone to do an errand and when he came back here, a neighbor–a young man who knew him, grew up with him, knew our family, who used to come and have meals with us– Sebastien gave him a helping hand many times, in many ways–he was waiting for him and said he wanted to go along with Sebastien to the garage. My son saw no ill will in this, nothing at all, he was not wary, and when they got into the garage the boy slit his throat, and he went at him, relentlessly, and then he left him lying there and went up to his apartment directly from the garage and said to his mother, “I killed Lam C, I killed a Jew,” and his mother called the police. His mother called the police, the police came, they saw the terrible thing that happened in the garage, they tried to save him but it was too late. He was atrociously mutilated. That’s it. Continue reading “Mother of French Jewish Murder Victim Speaks Out” →

All Articles, Poems & Commentaries Copyright © 1971-2021 Alyssa A. Lappen
All Rights Reserved.
Printing is allowed for personal use only | Commercial usage (For Profit) is a copyright violation and written permission must be granted first.