May 24, 2018

Last Friday, our nation reeled from yet another horrific school massacre that claimed ten lives in Santa Fe, Texas. For Muslims, this shooting had a particular resonance given that one of the victims, 17-year old Sabika Sheikh, was a Pakistani Muslim exchange student who wanted to unite cultures through education. A deluge of social media posts and official statements mourned Sheikh’s death. While that sentiment is certainly natural and her story is indeed a powerful one, the truth is that the epidemic of gun violence has always affected our communities and the fight to prevent it deserves our continued involvement and participation.

This year alone, there have been over 100 mass shootings (defined as more than three injuries or fatalities) across the country. Also in 2018, over 244 children (0-11 years) have been injured or killed by guns. Scroll through the incidents, or take a look at a map (children, mass shootings), and you’re likely to find an incomprehensible tragedy not too far from where you live. The laxity of federal regulations and many state laws, coupled with a uniquely American obsession with gun culture, has created a reality where such violence occurs everywhere. For that reason alone, we have a responsibility to stand up and speak out.

When it comes to the most heinous of these massacres, there is also a disturbing trend of white supremacist and bigoted ideologies motivating many of the perpetrators. Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, whom the alt-right initially tried desperately -and ironically- to connect to ISIS, was a passionate Islamophobe and swastika enthusiast. The Santa Fe shooter was similarly confirmed to have a passion for neo-Nazism and the fringiest elements of the alt-right. And in 2015, Dylann Roof released a manifesto of hate shortly before murdering nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, horrifically foreshadowing the spike in violent white supremacy that has only skyrocketed in the years since.

That violent hatred is intersectional in its impact and is just as often turned against Muslims as it is against other marginalized communities. While MPAC has consistently confronted the Trump administration and Congress over their failure to act on the rise of white nationalist groups, we must also address the accessibility by which such bigots can actualize their hate. Confronting white supremacy is inextricably linked to gun violence prevention (GVP), and we must address both issues head on to protect our communities fully.

Our voices are also urgently needed in policy conversations around GVP, while our absence can often cause unintended negative impacts on our communities. In the wake of the Orlando shooting in 2016, GVP advocates pushed for immediate action from Congress, leading to a bipartisan push for the so-called “No Fly, No Buy” bill. That bill would have blocked individuals on TSA’s No Fly List from purchasing firearms, giving lawmakers a handy talking point to use against pro-gun stalwarts: “if you oppose this bill, you want even terrorists to have guns.” While this seemed like an attainable win, American Muslims found the legislation profoundly problematic because the No Fly List is fundamentally flawed and used as a means to profile and discriminate against our communities. Though we are just as passionate about preventing gun violence, doing so through a program that directly harms our national security and shreds our civil liberties is not the answer. Accordingly, pro-gun advocates seized upon the backlash as an opportunity to smear the GVP movement as a whole.

The entire course of that policy debate could potentially have been mitigated if American Muslims were involved in GVP advocacy from the start. MPAC policy consultant and former White House liaison Zaki Barzinji recalls being contacted by a leading GVP advocate who asked urgently to be connected with Muslim organizations after the backlash to the No Fly No Buy campaign was already in full swing. She confessed that criticism of the No Fly List wasn’t even on her radar and that GVP groups had thrown their support behind it not out of callousness towards our communities but out of straightforward ignorance. With the bill now seeing a potential revival in recent weeks, it’s more important than ever that we show up to explain how detrimental such a move would be while staying just as engaged when it comes to finding real solutions. Learn how you can prevent gun violence in your state.

Even as gun violence has continued to skyrocket and touch all of our lives, Muslims have increasingly engaged in efforts to prevent its spread. Two months ago, the student-led March for Our Lives saw participation across the country, with Muslim youth marching alongside their fellow students and walking out of schools in protest. In addition to marching and mourning, we must commit ourselves to staying engaged in policy conversations and advocacy actions that will lead to lasting change and security for all Americans.