by Arsalan Iftikhar
July 23, 2012
James ‘Not-A-Terrorist’ Holmes
1) If the killer was a Muslim…The media would not be referring to the event as the ‘Colorado Massacre’…It would be called ‘Terrorism in Theater 9′…But since a white guy did it…No terrorism to see here, folks…
2) If the killer was a Muslim…You can almost see the litany of ‘Jihad of The Joker’ newspaper headlines…
3) If the killer was a Muslim…You wouldn’t hear anything about how he was ‘smart’ or ‘quiet’ and how difficult it was to gain admission into the prestigious PhD neuroscience program that he attended…
4) If the killer was a Muslim…Every brown person in America would need to walk through metal detectors to get into future screenings of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ at movie theaters around the country…
5) If the killer was a Muslim…The FBI would name every mosque, kabob restaurant & hookah bar that he ever attended…Hmm…I wonder if James Holmes ever went to a church? Don’t worry…We will never know…
6) If the killer was a Muslim…Michele Bachmann would figure out a way to blame this act of terrorism on the Muslim Brotherhood’s infiltration of the American government…
7) If the killer was a Muslim…Nobody would really look at the person’s ‘mental health’ issues…In this case, since the killer is not brown…People will assume that he is just a ‘nut’ with mental health problems…
8) If the killer was a Muslim…You would hear Republican politicians renew their call for racial profiling of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians…But then again…They never stopped doing that in the first place…
9) If the killer was a Muslim…Would he have been able to compile an arsenal including an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle, bomb-making materials and 6,000 rounds of ammunition without raising suspicions?
10) If the killer was a Muslim…This would be called a case of ‘terrorism’…Pure and simple…But since a white dude was the killer…Everyone can keep calm and carry on…
Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and author of the book Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslims in the Post-Osama Era.
