Tipsheet

Reminder: Islam is Not a Race or Nationality

The world was full of #HotTakes after Sunday morning's terrorist attack in Orlando. This one, however, may be the dumbest, courtesy of teleSUR English: the attacker couldn't have been an Islamic terrorist--he was born in America!

Seriously?

Islam is not a race any more than Presbyterianism is a race. Muslims of all shapes, sizes, and colors exist. Islamic terrorists do not have to be from the Middle East or commit atrocities in the Middle East. For example, the perpetrators of the Beslan school massacre in 2004, the Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs, were born in Russia, lived, studied, and worked in Russia, used Russian equipment and killed Russians. They were still Islamic terrorists. Many of the Paris attackers were born and raised in France.

Ignoring the true motivations behind atrocities will do nothing to solve problems. The Orlando attacker pledged allegiance to ISIS and expressed admiration for the Boston Marathon bombing. The location of his birth or the nationalities of his victims is irrelevant to his crimes.