A Letter to my Brothers and Sisters by Mouad Belahcen, Morocco

Thanks to the internet, the world is bigger than 4 countries. In the past, multiple times, I have been asked to apologize on behalf of someone whom I have no affiliation with except that they have performed or are performing acts of terrorism in the name of a religion that I follow, the same one which forbids them to do so. By now it is well known that Muslims are newsworthy only when behind the gun, not in front of it. I get that; we all get that. And no I won’t say, “if the killer was Muslim everyone will bla bla bla…” that’s overused, irrelevant, and sorry for my honesty, it’s dumb. If this had happened 5 years ago, I don’t think I would have heard about it, this just shows the power of social media and the importance of citizen journalists. The so-called “Real Media” however did a great job of not covering the terror attack, it hardly even made it to the news. Obama’s new selfie stick had more coverage than the death of 3 beautiful humans. People like Bill Maher, Richard Dawkings, and Bill O’Reilly love to promote hate towards Muslims and Islam in general with the use of lies, however now that an atheist pulled the trigger, none of these people came out with a statement, except for Richard Dawkings who was decent enough to condemn the act. And most of the atheists I know ignored that this has even happened, the same ones that asked me for an apology, and what’s even sad is the pathetic attempt to sugarcoat the crime by claiming that it was over a parking space dispute… WHO in their right mind would shoot 3 people who happened to be Muslim execution style in the head by an atheist who described himself as an “anti-theist” on social media for a parking space? And who in their right mind would buy that story? And I know… I know… that most of you, my fellow Muslims, are hurt and heartbroken by the western media’s bigotry and double standards, and that most of you are filled with anger at this moment. Some of you are even using this as a sort of ammunition against atheists, which is really sad. If you do that, you are truly no better than the killer, the media, and horrible public figures such as Bill Maher. While arguing over the motives of the killer, which are quite obvious and don’t need any explaining, and blaming the media for being what it is, you are messing with the bigger picture. Let me remind you that 3 young and promising people lost their lives for being Muslim. They gave so much to their community and to the world. Looking at social media breaks me. My heart goes out to the families affected by the Chapel Hill Shooting. The world has lost 3 heroes who had so much potential because of a terrorist. I don’t care if he is white, American, or an Atheist, I won’t ask for an apology from anyone, because terrorists have no religion, no color, and no nationality.