Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

VIEWPOINT: Combat Islamophobic Rhetoric

Last week, two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, were attacked during Friday prayers. Masjid Al Noor and Dar Al Hijrah collectively lost 50 community members, alerting many outside of the Muslim community to the harsh reality of Islamophobia.

But when news of the attack in New Zealand surfaced, neither I nor my Muslim friends and family were surprised. I felt grief when looking at pictures of the victims, apprehension about the future and even bouts of mournful pride when hearing of the heroism of those attacked, but never once did I experience shock about the attack or the shooter’s motivations. What happened at Christchurch could happen at any of the mosques Muslims call home and at any moment, a possibility that I worry about constantly.

Even as others express shock that our faith community could be so heinously targeted, Muslims have been acutely aware of the threats we face for years. We hire mosque guards, secure our Sunday schools and tell women who wear hijabs to learn self-defense in case they are targeted in an Islamophobic attack. Nearly all the mosques I know of try to build barriers against hate crimes as anti-Muslim violence becomes increasingly normalized, and it is exhausting.

The burden should not be placed on Muslims to protect themselves against hate. We can better secure the safety of Muslims by representing the diverse experiences of Muslims and being careful not to treat the faith identity as a monolithic category.

After the shooting, mainstream commentary worked to underplay the threat of white nationalism by emphasizing the danger posed by Muslims. In one example of this, an Australian senator brazenly stated, “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.”

Despite the attacker’s 74-page manifesto of white nationalism, this rhetoric positions Muslims as the true problem and blames the victims for the violence they experience. Even after the blood of their friends and family members has been so publicly spilled, Muslims’ right to live in their own country is questioned. The message rings clear: Muslims are still presumed to be guilty, even in their most vulnerable moments.

The New Zealand shooter has done what so many throughout history have done: transforming the cruelty of hate speech into a targeted act of violence. He is not alone. To isolate the New Zealand shooter’s actions from the global framework of Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia is a form of secondhand violence that erases the struggle of Muslims to be recognized as full citizens and as human beings. Capitalizing on a system that often works to protect them at any cost, white nationalists propagate a dangerous ideology with impact that moves beyond the realm of obscure chat rooms.

Within our own campus community, Muslims have grown up in a post-9/11 world in which our national identity, loyalty and innocence are frequently questioned and debated in classrooms, political speeches and Twitter rants. At Georgetown, we are privileged to be surrounded by frequent expressions of support from empathetic faith communities and students, but it would be foolish to assume that this level of understanding is present throughout this country or the world at large.

In the United States, mosques are routinely the target of vandalism. Muslims, such as Texan Councilmember Shahid Shafi, are questioned about their loyalty to American democracy. The Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar and the repression of the Uighurs in China are ongoing reminders that Muslims remain restricted in their ability to openly practice their faith. With so many examples of Muslim marginalization, the events in Christchurch added a tragic addition to a story that Muslims already know far too well.

If there is a path out of this tragedy, we must listen and recognize the Muslim voices expressing the reality of the distinct threats they face from racism and xenophobia.  Dismantling the rhetoric of Muslims as dangerous threats to society and calling on our representatives to do the same should be on everyone’s political agenda. As the chalk in Red Square this week reminded us, it is possible to build positive solidarity across diverse experiences, but only if we are willing to openly and repeatedly reject Islamophobia from political figures, in our media and in our curricula.

Against this tide of white nationalism, the best way to honor the lives of the 50 victims in Christchurch is to ensure the world becomes a safer and more just place for those they have left behind.

Mena Mohamed is a junior in the School of Foreign Service.

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