Well, this: the media, world leaders, and people in our community only care about half of you and that is the white, Scandinavian half. The Muslim/Arab-looking half of you will be shunned and shamed (for Islamist attacks that have nothing to do with us) until people like me, you, your father, and others speak up and speak out. It took mere minutes for news outlets and social media to be all over the Copenhagen shootings and I would argue, rightly so. A life taken too soon in a violent manner is newsworthy. But days after Deah Barakat (23), Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha (21), and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha (19) were shot, we still know very little about what happened. How are we, as a world, ok with that? And how can you turn around and say that there isn't a double standard in the way Muslim lives and deaths are reported versus non-Muslim (white) ones when you look at how the Chapel Hill shooting story unfolded vs the Copenhagen shootings? When I show my son the news coverage on both events how else will he interpret this?
The honest truth is that I am terrified for my children. I am angry beyond belief that the world has given such little time and attention to the murders of these students. But more than anything I am scared for my children because they are Muslim and they look Muslim and the murders of their own people are being ignored, erased, or otherwise made invisible by the world and almost everyone is ok with that. That is an absolutely terrifying thought to me because if my kids ever need it, will they be helped by their peers or ignored like Deah, Yusor, and Razan because they're Muslim or Arab looking? Or because they parked in the wrong place? As a Muslim, a parent, and a human I am unnerved by how easily everyone has accepted the 'parking space dispute' theory as a motive for murder because on February 10th, 2015 Deah, Yusor, and Razan were the victims, but ten years ago that could have been my sister and I, and in 20 years that could my children and my nieces and nephews. Yet the theory news outlets are espousing for the attack in Copenhagen is 'terror' and everyone has accepted that blindly. Well according to the FBI, a terror attack is the unlawful use of force with the aim of intimidating a government or civilian population and let me tell you, the relative radio silence surrounding the murders of the three students has me and millions of other Muslims terrified so is one attack really more terror-related than the other?
It has already been said but it bears repeating, for many Muslims our issue is not that the murders were over a parking dispute. If that is genuinely what these murders were about then that's what they were about. But in asking us to accept that, think about what you would do if you were told a Muslim barged into someone's home and shot 3 young adults over a parking spot. Would you simply accept that and move on or would you demand more answers from the people investigating and your news sources? If you answer that question truthfully, it may shed some light on why so many Muslims are both outraged and terrified by the lack of media coverage on these murders. With all the anti-Islamic sentiment in the world and the stigma attached to identifying as Muslim (especially if you wear a hijab), it is hard for many of us to simply accept this parking spot theory without more information. If a Muslim had been the attacker, news coverage on these murders would still be rampant but less than five days on from the attack, one has to dig deep to find information on it.
I am raising a son who will naturally be curious about both the Chapel Hill shooting and the Copenhagen shootings because he is both Muslim and Danish. But he will be caught between these worlds because I am raising him to proud of his Muslim identity, as well as his Danish, British, and American roots. The world, though, cannot seem to wrap its head around a Muslim victim. We must be the perpetrators of violence and terrorism and not at the receiving end of it. The media and the world can both understand and accept a Muslim villain, but they are unwilling to accept a Muslim victim, unless that victim is stranded on a mountain or in a desert in some far-off land waiting for Western assistance. That is the extent of our identity to Western media and this Chapel Hill attack and the lack of journalistic coverage on it has shown what a narrow and racist view of Muslims the world has. I am saddened that my children and nieces and nephews will grow up in a world where they are either viewed as villains or not noticed at all. For all my attempts to raise socially active, well educated, and enterprising children, the world will simply not see them because they do not fit into the popular understanding (supported, extended, and encouraged by mainstream media) of what a Muslim should be. That is what the #ChapelHillShooting has taught me and what it will teach my son.
A life taken too soon is always something to be mourned and investigated fully. A Muslim life (and death), it seems though, is either invisible, ignorable, or both. But my children will not be ignored. They will be Muslim. And they will be Danish and British and American. And they will have empathy for both the Chapel Hill and the Copenhagen victims because every act of violence and terror in the world is deplorable. I will not let them compromise who they are because the world refuses to embrace and accept every part of their cultural heritage. I will say it now and I will keep saying it until somebody actually listens: as a family we are Danish, American, and British, AND we are Muslim and the lives and deaths of our people matter.
#ChapelHillShooting
#OurThreeWinners
#CopenhagenShooting
#TakeOnHate
the original article can be found at http://whatdoitellmykids.com/2015/02/14/about-the-chapelhillshooting-and-the-copenhagenshooting/
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