After the tragic deaths of Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her younger sister Razan Abu-Salha, there is an immediate need to make sense of a senseless and abhorrently violent act. After the shock, anger and overwhelming grief, the Muslim population was left with the question ‘why?’ Why had three, young, bright, charitable students with a shining reputation by all accounts, been shot dead in the assumed safety of their own home? Initial reports questioned the motive and largely pointed at an ongoing dispute over parking. Such claims were met by outrage across the Muslim community who called for further investigation and for the event to be addressed as a hate crime. The exact details of that day are not fully known and may never come to light but parking dispute or not, hate crime or not, the cold-blooded murder of three young Muslim students by an aggravated white male must not be viewed in isolation nor as a rogue incident. The immediate, widespread and united Muslim response calling for justice, fair reporting and unbiased investigation is telling of the atmosphere under which Muslims are living. When a minority group is forced to campaign, rally and petition for fair treatment, it can be assumed that it is borne out of a history of unfair treatment, subjugation and continued injustices.
Orchestrated Atmosphere – The decade long War on Terror, invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and almost daily drone attacks across the Muslim world have irreversibly changed the Muslim image and their landscape of existence. Today, the average Muslim lives against a backdrop of distrust, fear and loathing in an atmosphere which has been intentionally fuelled and ignited by media bias, sensationalism and political fear mongering. The position Muslims find themselves in today is little to do with the actions of Muslims themselves and everything to do with the orchestrated atmosphere and common narrative that is presented to society.
The likes of Fox News are broadly recognized for their far-right stances, grossly misinformed reporting and antagonistic commentary but perhaps more disturbing is the broader media’s complete omission of stories which do not serve the common narrative. There has been speculation that had it not been for social media, the story of Deah, Yusor and Razan may never have made it to news outlets. Case in point, the last week and a half alone has seen at least five incidents of Islamophobic hate crimes which failed to feature in mainstream media. This unquestionably skewed presentation of events serves to maintain the false image of Muslims being backward, misogynist and terrorist. The more recent and subtle addition to this has been the implied guilt of a Muslim if he is merely perceived to hold particular political opinions. The disproportionate and fear mongering representation of ISIS is one such tool used to malign and relegate the idea of an Islamic Caliphate or in fact, any political process taken from religious doctrine, thereby successfully making the bearded brown man and veiled woman who support Muslim autonomy, synonymous with ‘terrorist’ and ‘the enemy.’ Thus the desired tone of public opinion is successfully calibrated.
Maligned and Demonized Population – Both the subtle, implied undertones and overt degradation and discrimination result in a successfully maligned and demonized sect of society. The elected officials in positions of authority, who are tasked with representing the common man, are instead enacting laws which profile and accuse particular blocks of the community in the absence of any actual crime. The Stop and Frisk laws are known to both anecdotally and statistically target people of color, the majority of whom are never convicted of any wrongdoing. Similarly, the incendiary statements from politicians, TSA racial profiling, FBI entrapment, NYPD Muslim surveillance program, anti-Sharia law bills and the recent CTS bill in the UK, all seek to achieve the same ends.
Justified ‘Hate’ – A dehumanized, presumptively guilty party invites a dangerously justified hate towards the said group of people. The movie, ‘American Sniper’ is one such example of publically accepted propaganda. The mere existence of this movie and the welcome it received demonstrates the self-righteousness and arrogant authority the American population is allowed and taught to assume over the Muslim world, both in thought and in action. It not only justifies invasion and destruction of Muslim lands abroad – even in the absence of true cause and reason – but also allows the more subtle association of Muslims in America with ‘the enemy’ abroad. The rise in acts of aggression, racism and discrimination against Muslims and other minority communities are a direct consequence of this justified hate.
The Excused Party – Having created the assumed guilty party, there then emerges the inevitably ‘innocent’ and excused party and it is no coincidence that the latter is the white majority power house. When the image of the angry black man, the lowly immigrant and the Muslim terrorist have sufficiently permeated the common thought and become the prevalent idea, it allows for the brazen, unapologetic dismissal of the ‘other’. America has seen a shocking number of black men, women and even children shot by white police officers who are cleared of wrongdoing and more shocking still, maintain their positions of power, rendering them untouchable and ironically above the law they enforce. This further serves to maintain the status quo and the necessary lines of division between the evil and the innocent, the enemy and the victim, the minority and majority. It is no wonder then that the horrific acts of the likes of Craig Hicks will quickly be supported with a plethora of excuses and reasons. Minority communities are all too familiar with the lone wolf, the mentally unstable man and the rogue criminal, who exist in abundance when an act of aggression against them is committed by a member of the majority. In the case of Chapel Hill, even ‘ongoing parking dispute’ is offered as a pathetic excuse for the execution of three Muslims.
Recourse – Having been assigned the role of the enemy in a sufficiently tense atmosphere of hate and fear, the Muslim has no assumed, established or protected path to recourse when under attack. Campaigns on social media, petitions to the White House and press conferences are all attempts to redress the uneven scales, and are NOT part of the justice system that protects other citizens of America. Muslims are forced to operate at the fringes of the system and fight against, not within it, to achieve the same outcome that is otherwise a given right to the majority. The fact that the father of the two slain girls has to publicly call the American President to account, demand a thorough investigation and request consideration of the nature of the crime is testimony to the barriers to justice faced by Muslims.
Standards of Accountability – Muslim minorities are assessed using a different set of standards to the majority of America. The Chapel Hill victims were known to be inspirational members of society, well educated, charitable, friendly and sociable, productive and with promising careers. Despite all of this, they were brutally murdered simply for their identity as Muslims.
The temptation to abandon any identifiably Islamic characteristics such as a beard or hijab would only serve to further alienate the resolute and increase the likelihood of future attacks. While any other person would be judged based on their character, this is no longer enough for a Muslim. In this climate, the Muslim is deemed less than human, no matter how significant their humanity.
Regardless of the outcome of the Chapel Hill investigation and whether it is given recognition of being a hate crime, the reasons for and means with which Muslims are having to call for justice, tells its own story of Muslims in America and it’s a story that is being perpetuated the world over.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Umm Ruqayyah
References
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dilly-hussain/counter-terorism-bill_b_6567208.html