By Thug Scholar
After Craig Steven Hicks, a white man in his forties, executed Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, the media was eerily silent. As opposed to the outrage that took place after the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo, major news networks ignored the murders of the three students until social media caught wind of the story, and it went viral. The blatant disregard by the media delivers a painful reminder to Muslims as to how they are generally perceived: those who commit acts of terrorism, but are not capable of being the victims of it. This is how Islamophobia wrapped in American white supremacy can manifest itself: it doesn't necessarily have to openly call someone an evil terrorist. It can be the implication that the murder of these three young Muslims was unimportant because they weren't the ones behind the trigger. It is suggesting that Hicks shouldn't be investigated for a hate crime because the issue was merely over a parking space, that his lack of sanity was the sole cause of the murders (a statement in itself that is ablelist), and any preconceived hostility towards his neighbors shouldn't seriously be questioned. It is, essentially, stripping Muslims of their humanity in subtle, yet dangerous ways. When we dismiss the murders of these three students as merely the acts of a "crazed" neighbor over a parking space, we fail to grasp at the root conversations of whiteness, social marginalization and the threads of Islamophobia that have affected the American perceptions of Muslims, as well as our perception of victim hood and terrorism. The increased surveillance, profiling, and harassment of Muslim, as well as Arab, African, and South Asian communities since 9/11 has led to increased fear in these collectives . Standing in solidarity with Muslims and other profiled communities demands that we examine our history of moral panics and the othering of Islamic people in America.
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ATS MagAgainst the Stream Magazine is an urban platform. We edify our readers by finding noble, pure, and true talent and giving it a stage to flourish. While we love bragging about the folks around us, we also tackle urban issues by giving real world solutions. Archives
October 2015
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