Within recent years, the rate of Islamophobia around the world has risen exponentially along with a rapid increase in anti-muslim hate crimes. On the afternoon of Friday, March 15, a 28-year-old Australian man walked into 2 mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and opened fire, killing over 50 Muslim victims and injuring dozens of others. The gunman began his first attack at Al-Noor mosque immediately after arriving in a large van loaded with lethal weapons. He then proceeded to live stream his attack via Facebook Live and killed 41 worshippers all within a matter of several minutes. Once he finished, the terrorist moved to another nearby mosque where he shot and killed 10 more victims. Authorities claim that the entire attack took the shooter no more than 15 minutes to complete, whereas it took 17 minutes for the police to officially arrive at the scene.

Although this attack seemed very sudden, the mass murderer had been plotting his revenge on the Muslim community for quite some time. Inspired by our own American policies and president, the terrorist wrote a 73-page manifesto explaining his hatred for Islam and why he was going to commit such a horrific act of violence. In his portfolio, he even mentioned how he was going to honor the attacks of other murderers toward the Muslim community and “end Islam once and for all”. This is a very important piece of information since it explains why he wrote the names of several murderers and the dates of previous anti-muslim attacks on his weaponry.

After understanding the truth about what really occurred during this tragic incident, it sickens me to comprehend that there are actually people in the world who have this much hatred in their hearts. Yet, the most triggering aspect of this entire issue is that the media refuses to point fingers at the suspect due to his racial privilege of white supremacy. Despite all the acts of violence committed by the shooter, the media refuses to call him by what he really is— a terrorist. Even president Trump refuses to associate him with terrorism.

Did the attacker lack certain qualities or fail to commit certain acts of violence in order to earn such a degrading title? Let’s not forget that the victims involved in this tragedy were just regular civilians worshiping their creator in a place that was supposed to be a haven from the cruel world. Moreover, they displayed absolutely no forms of aggression or violence toward the shooter or the outside community, supporting the claim that the attack was purely birthed from racism and ignorance. In fact, the first man that the shooter gunned down greeted his killer with “Salam Brother”, a respectful welcoming into the mosque.

Why can’t people just be accepting of one another and learn to love each other? When will people realize that terrorism has no religion? And finally, when will justice be served?