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Hasan Minhaj has wise words about those ignorant to the Sikh shooting. | Source
When the horrific massacre at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises went down at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, your Twitter and Facebook feeds probably went nuts, right? It was scary, it was dramatic, it was big, and it was semi-related to Batman. But does that make the lives of those lost in the Aurora shootings worth more than those lost in the Sikh shootings in Wisconsin and mosque burning in Missouri?
A comedian named Hasan Minhaj has taken to YouTube to vent about something not so funny: the lack of social media support for the Sikh shooting victims, in which six innocent civilians were killed, and one police officer was injured. Why are we–including us at Gurl–being so quiet about this?
“The fact that certain lives are valued more than others because of the color of their skin or their personal beliefs–that’s a problem,” Minhaj fumes, “and the black community has been talking about this for decades.” He’s absolutely right, and he may not even be voicing the half of it–these same attitudes are what led many to let slavery linger as long as it did.
Minhaj goes on to explain that because brown people were the ones killed, it looks like brown people are the only ones who care about it–and he points out, without explicitly saying so, that most cases of domestic terrorism are committed by off-their-rockers white dudes, yet those men aren’t the ones who get weird looks at the airport. Innocent, civilian lives were lost, and regardless of your color or creed, that’s always a tragedy. Watch what he has to say below:
So why have people been so silent? Is it because a movie theater hits more close to home for some–anyone and everyone goes to the movies, but not anyone or everyone prays at a gurdwara (which is pretty much just a different name for a church), and it may not resonate for that reason? It’s not like we at Gurl weren’t fully aware (and upset) about what happened–but for some stupid reason, it’s like we felt like we weren’t “qualified” to talk about what happened, because none of us on staff are a part of the Sikh community. And that? Well, that’s stupid logic on our part, because we ARE part of the same community of the people who were directly affected by this horrific event. We’re all part of the HUMAN community, and we’re all Americans. No matter our religious beliefs, no matter the color of our skin. And it’s our job to care for each other and support each other in times of crisis.
In any case, we need to talk about the Sikh shootings and why we aren’t talking about the Sikh shootings. The Sikh shootings were a massive hate crime, and there likely would have been even more casualties had the killer, Wade Michael Page, not been stopped so soon. This wasn’t just a large-scale hate crime, it was also a large-scale showcase of our own ignorance and thinly veiled intolerance.
We need to care, and we need to open our eyes wide enough to see past skin color and religion and begin to speak up for one another’s rights to live our lives equally.
Do you think the Sikh shooting gained enough media coverage? Why do you think the Aurora, Colorado shooting got more attention that the Sikh shooting in Wisconsin? Do you think racism and Islamophobia play a role in the general lack of support for the Sikh shooting victims? Tell us in the comments!
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I’m Muslim and I didn’t even know this, but that’s because I try my best to stay from the media. I am a Muslim, and I am an American, and when I was younger( as in a little kid) I was ashamed of who I was. I thought that being a Muslim meant terrorist, Islam oppressed women, people from Muslim countries(typically Arabs were highly uncivillized people. BUT I WAS COMPLETELY WRONG. Islam means peace, and what the media was saying about ISLAM WERE LIES!! Me when I was younger as a Muslim, I thought Muslim and terrorist were the same thing. But I started watching videos on youtube( you can learn a lot of youtube) and I swear Muslims are one of the nicest people. And I learned that Islam does respect women and does not oppress at all whatsoever, and Muslims are sanitary people. I’m 15 and proud to be a Muslim. I’m not some Islamic expert or anything, but I wish to learn more about my faith. And I think that the media,newspapers, and everything have brainwashed people, even a Muslim into hating themselve. And the people who even make these terrible accusations regarding Muslims have no degree on Islamic teachings or anything. Everytime they show a Muslim on tv they show as if they are uncivillized, however one of the richest countries in the world are in the Middle East. If America is the land of the free why do I here of so much Muslim Women being harassed when they wear a headscarf , stared at and looked as if they were naked or something. The headscarf is a sign of dignity. Sikh also suffer is because most dumb and noneducated people assume they are Muslim, because of the turban they wear which is totally different, they’ve been suffering too. I wrote too much and there are prbably a lot of grammaer mistakes, i juss felt like letting wht was in out i didnt mean to offend anyone
I honestly don’t think that the low coverage is due to race. I think it’s because twice as many people died in Aurora along with 58 being injured- all at the hands of someone whose teachers though he was going to be a brilliant doctor, all at the hands of a guy who thought he was a supervillian. It’s a lot more dramatic than this.
The fact that you’re trying to blame it on racism is a bit ridiculous. You really can’t compare the Aurora shooting and the Sikh shootings because they were on completely different levels despite them both being terrorism.
there needs too be more poeple in the world who will stand up for the minority! good on hasan for spreading the message of love <3
This is so much bull. All my friends and I have been praying for the victims. When a white person is killed it don’t make the national news, but when a black person is killed by a hispanic they call the hispanic white and try to start racism. Stupid articles like this one are what keeps racism going. No one wants to see innocent people killed.
I live in col springs and I know someone who was at the aurora shooting, it was weird because my fb was blowing up with things about it (including my fb friends from WI). But I never even heard anything about the Sikh shooting in WI even though I have fb friends from there. WTF, makes no sense to me. I mean it makes me mad because people are just plain racist. I know lots of people don’t believe this would be the reason the Sikh shooting wasn’t as “popular” as the batman one but being part middle-eastern (getting/hearing all those rude remarks about terrorists) has definitely opened my eyes up to things like this.
I loved this video. I am guilty because I knew nothing about the shootings, I had to hear it from my boyfriend.
“Why are we–including us at Gurl–being so quiet about this?”
Yeah, didn’t you cover it? why not an article? Anything? Expect this one.
I feel so sorry for all of those in the Sikh shooting.
THe town is only about an hour away from mine, so I’m very grateful it didn’t happen here – but I hope the people at the scene feel okay enough to go back to their temple.
Wow you must have been scared, when you heard of that it was outside of your town. I’m a Muslim and it’s hard walking around the mall, when people think your responsible for 9/11. That guy is right, all of us should get together and stop this. Thanks to gURL for posting this, it’s a really important topic. ;p