Enough.
Enough of the scapegoating of entire communities.
Enough of the demonization of certain peoples of faith.
Enough of the marginalization of groups based on the color of their skin or the place of their birth.
What we witnessed last Friday in New Zealand chills the heart. The words, motivations and actions of the killer must spur us to act.
At Madina Institute Center for Non-violence and Peace Studies, we are deeply concerned and saddened by this carnage. We cannot allow violence and terror to take root in our communities and societies – whether they take place in New Zealand or The Netherlands or anywhere else. The depravity of violence cannot be tolerated. We call on government, civil society and our fellow brothers and sisters in humanity to renew our collective commitments to root out all forms of violence from macro to micro, and to recommit ourselves to non-violent activism geared to break the cycle of violence that is plaguing the world today.
Terror and hate know no religion nor ethnicity - they are just as transnational as greed is. Human beings are human beings all over the world, and we actually are all one race, irrespective of our creed, color or ethnicity. The vast majority of Kiwis are good and decent people, just like our people here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., but inciting hate and then violence can easily be traced back to irresponsible religious and political figures’ statements or actions, in addition to an insistent, relentless media message that stereotypes a faith of 1.6 billion people as being inherently violent.
We call on all religious figures from all backgrounds — Muslims and non-Muslims — to refrain from “othering”. All faith systems insist that compassion is the central theme of their faith. It is time to go back to basics.
We call on all political figures to respect human life regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religious or socioeconomic status. Putting your country first should never mean aggression against another, and prioritizing one’s people should never mean dehumanizing others.
We call on Hollywood to think about all the implicit and explicit messages it sends through movie productions. Jack Shaheen, in his book “Reel Bad Arabs,” speaks to this point, where writers and directors and the entire film industry consistently depict “brown looking people” or Arabs/Muslims as stupid, deceitful and backward savages that can never be trusted, etc.
These implicit messages lead us to ignore the suffering of other human beings, because they are not us and not like us. Therefore, unlike the terror that hit Paris, and other places, which led to a poster being designed that went viral with a simple message: We are all Paris with the Eiffel Tower and French national flag in the background. Nothing like that has been widely spread about the New Zealand terror attack. Why is that?
We call on media outlets to give their news and/or views responsibly and respectfully about “others”. Words have consequences, and media outlets, along with political/religious leaders, contribute to our reality. This is not to shift the blame on others. Absolutely not. But it is about time we put a stop to these false narratives and depictions and the ongoing abuse they represent.
To those who are already active in combating hate speech, please redouble your efforts. To those who have long stood on the sidelines quietly shaking their heads in disapproval, we hope you will now be motivated to act.
Forgive our naivete in calling for political and intellectual honesty. Forgive our idealism – grounded as it is in our religious beliefs – in hoping and expecting that religious and political leaders do just that: Lead.
We must no longer allow it to be politically acceptable or expeditious for the continued demonization of individuals and groups based on their political leanings or their religious aspirations.
We must consistently reject the politics of division that are so much a part of our culture today, even more so when it is being practiced from the Oval Office. We must agree that it is perfectly acceptable – even expected – that we will have deep-seated differences revolving around healthcare, foreign policy, immigration, economic policy, etc. But we also must agree that those divisions cannot lead us down the path of hate and demonization, as has been so evident for the last two years.
So we call on people of faith, on our political leaders and on our business leaders, to unite in our collective abhorrence at hate speech. We must reject any attempt to demonize or dehumanize each other, and we must do so vocally and consistently, regardless of whether such attempts come from the left or the right, from a so-called Muslim or Jew or Christian or any other faith system.
Enough hate, enough violence. It’s time to love our neighbor, ourselves, and all our fellow human beings.
Dr. Muhammad al-Ninowy is founder and director of Madina Institute, an Islamic seminary in Atlanta, with campuses in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sudan, and Malaysia. The Center for Non-violence and Peace Studies is part of the Institute, emphasizing Islamic education within a healthy and tolerant environment. Nidal Ibrahim is former editor and publisher of Arab American Business Magazine.
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