How Islamophobia Neglects the ChristChurch Shooting
“The appalling massacres of two mosques in ChristChurch left more than 49 people dead at the hands of a white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant. The suspect has been charged with murder for the shooting of two mosques in New Zealand. The news has people all over the internet seeking explanations and heart broken (The Week, 2019)”
“Australian Senate blames muslims immigration for the terrorist attack saying that ‘The real cause of the bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place’” (Edmonton Sun, 2019)”
“‘Something happened during his travels’ How a blonde little boy turned into a far-right mass killer and murdered 49 worshippers after his father died of cancer and he left Australia to tour the world, including North Korea and Pakistan (Mail online, 2019)”
All these passages from articles do nothing but focus on the shooter and the fact that the victims are Muslims, as if that excuses the horrific violence they experienced.
Here are some facts that were missed by the media:
A victim’s last words were “Welcome Brother” as he greeted the shooter and was shot to his death.
The victims are human beings: they are children, men and women. They were sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers of someone out there.
Most of the victims immigrated to New Zealand in hopes to find a safe place to live.
One of the victims jumped in front of her wheelchair-bound husband to save him.
Because of Islamophobia, people forget that just because you’re not Muslim doesn’t mean that you can’t feel heartbroken, that you can’t support other Muslims or the families of these victims, that you can’t defend them, and that you can’t advocate for them. People forget that the victims are all human beings who were peacefully praying.
Islamophobia ignores that the shooter is a terrorist and should not have his terrorist attacks excused as the acts of ‘a little blonde boy’. It wilfully ignores that Muslim immigration is not to blame for this catastrophic event. The shooter’s inhumane actions are the only thing responsible.