The shootings at Charlie Hebdo, while deplorable, should not be used for continued discrimination.
The shootings at Charlie Hebdo have created a new excuse for people to express their Islamophobia: the hatred of the religion of Islam, Muslims or any ethnic group believed to be Muslim. The murders of the cartoonists and hostages in Paris are vile and deplorable, but they should be not be used for the continued discrimination against Muslims.
Freedom of speech is a concern to mass media and our society only when it affects white people.
Switzerland banned minarets — prayer towers in mosques; racial profiling is encouraged in many federal programs in the U.S. even though, statistically, white people carry more drugs; and the niqab, full-faced veils worn by some Muslims, was banned in France. All of these things have something in common: they don’t impact the liberties and freedoms of white people. While some may argue that the banning of the niqab actually gives Muslim women more freedom, the government taking away the choice does exactly the opposite.
In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, several mosques in France were the targets of shootings and bombings, but I have yet to see any marches for them. There is no public damnation of those who target Muslims. As CNN political commentator Sally Kohn tweeted, “Muslim shooter = entire religion guilty … Black shooter = entire race guilty … White shooter = mentally troubled lone wolf.”
The day before the shooting in Paris, a white man bombed the NAACP offices in Colorado Springs, but mainstream media did little to cover the story. The incident was clearly race driven, yet there were no outcries against white men as a whole. The University of California, Santa Barbara shooter was a white male who released an anti-woman manifesto, but he was simply labeled as insane, rather than have society question whether or not gender roles and expectations are harmful.
A study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute found that more than 80 percent of Americans say that those who act violently in the name of Christianity aren't really Christian. But comparatively, more than half said that Muslims who do the same are truly Muslim. We treat white shooters as outliers yet condemn entire religions and other races for the acts of few.
Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh was arrested in Israel for supposedly “providing information to hostile organizations,” according to a Times of Israel article. There was limited media coverage of his arrest and no outrage about freedom of speech.
It is ignored that the largest source of initial information to authorities about terrorist attacks and plots is the Muslim-American community. Lassana Bathily, a Muslim store clerk, saved the lives of six customers when he hid them in the store’s freezer while a gunman raided it.
People have every right to be outraged at the attacks against the cartoonists in Paris. But to ignore and not be equally outraged at the attacks against Muslims, people of color and people in countries that aren’t predominately white or Christian, is hypocritical. Picking and choosing what groups of people to be concerned about is stating that some people are worth more, and that is inherently anti-feminist.
Jessica Ensley is a senior studying journalism and an active member of F--kRapeCulture at Ohio University. Email her at je726810@ohio.edu.
