We say Muslim terrorist. So why not white terrorist in London attack?
Rows of tables set cafeteria-style, the smell of burning sage from an Indigenous smudge ceremony, a devotional chant by members of the Rifai Sufi order and a dervish who whirled meditatively.
Some 200 people gathered at the 519, the community centre at Church and Wellesley Sts., for the 15th annual Peace Iftar, an event for Muslims and non-Muslims of all genders, orientations and abilities to break bread together during Ramadan, the month of religious observation that includes a fast from sunrise to sunset.
“For those of you who are here for the first time, who are in a Muslim space for the first time, and are in a Muslim space that started out with an Indigenous smudge ceremony, yes it all does make sense,” organizer El-Farouk Khaki told the Toronto group. “The Qur’an teaches us that God the creator sent messengers and enlightened beings to all people at all times.”
Some 5,000 kilometres away, scenes of chaos, people screaming, running helter-skelter.
Unbeknownst to the Toronto gathering, tragedy had shredded through the post-prayer calm of other Ramadan observers who had just broken their fast after a white man plowed a white van into a group of worshippers near a mosque in Finsbury Park in North London.
Eventually one man was caught and pinned to the ground. An imam of the mosque, Mohammed Mahmoud, was lauded as a hero for making sure the mob did not seriously harm the man.
In Toronto, Khaki is a bit of a star in these surroundings. He’s a lawyer and a Muslim queer activist who, in 1991, founded Salaam, a support group for gay Muslims, and in 2009, an inclusive prayer space called El-Tawhid Juma Circle in the Toronto Unity Mosque.
He talked about the similarities of the spiritual cleansing in the Smudge Ceremony to the vidhu or tayammum in the Muslim tradition. “So we see the interconnections and we hope you do too.”
Sunday’s parallel events showed those interconnections are lacking when it comes to viewing Muslims.
Stepping out of that Peace Iftar onto Church Street, I find my phone dinging with news of the London attack created dissonance, and then there was this headline from the Daily Mail:
“White van driver injures at least 10 people after plowing into a crowd outside London’s Finsbury Park mosque where hate cleric Abu Hamza once preached as Muslims finish their evening prayers.”
It’s a notably bad headline not just for its length, but also for victimblaming. The mosque was known as a hotbed of extremism post 9/11, it’s true, but it overhauled its management and in 2014, became the first mosque to win a prestigious award for combating extremism.
Yet, that headline has a saving grace. It, at least, mentions the white van driver.
What about The Associated Press, that gateway of global journalism?
“Vehicle strikes several pedestrians on London road.”
Or this one from ABC (Australia’s equivalent of the CBC): One dead, terror probe launched after van targets Muslims near London mosque. Because, you know, vans go around targeting people.
Terrorism, it appears, has a face. It is dark-skinned or it wears a beard, or a skullcap, or a veil. Those are the qualifiers for having race/ethnicity labels for terrorists.
Will the suspect be labelled a white terrorist as is the practice for Muslim terrorists?
I’m not advocating two wrongs to make a right; but not acknowledging the hypocrisy here is wilful blindness.
A white terrorist does not represent all whites when he sympathizes with violent supremacist ideals (which at this point we don’t know if the London suspect does). A white terrorist does not even represent those whites who secretly believe they are superior to other races but will not condone violence in that cause.
Can we accept that the same is true for Muslims?
It appears not. In Canada, hate crimes against Muslims in 2015 were up 61 per cent over the previous year. Some 11 per cent of the overall hate crimes in 2015 were targeted by sexual orientation. I dread to think of what those figures are after the U.S. election.
“It is incredible, saddening,” said Lisa Gore Duplessis, a director at the 519, on Sunday. She announced a new initiative that borrows from the “Toronto For All” poster campaign by OCASI, the Ontario agency serving immigrants.
“The 519 will partner with Unity Mosque and OCASI to sort of twist and queerify that campaign and launch it in the summer time,” she said.
Poster campaigns are a valiant effort at creating awareness, but pre-November 2016 strategies to combat hate are no longer adequate. What is needed now is accountability from those who foster division. Shree Paradkar tackles issues of race and gender. You can follow her @shreeparadkar.