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Give yourself a round of applause, Trump. You just won an award! You're now the fastest president to have more than 50 per cent of Americans believing you're not doing a good job!

Late in the evening on Sunday, Jan. 31, a man walked into the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec in Quebec City and opened fire on a group gathered for prayer. In the end, six men were killed and close to two dozen were injured. The suspect, a 27-year old man, is white, educated and Canadian.

I will not write the man’s name in this article; if you really want to know that badly, you can find it out for yourself. History has a way of glorifying the terrorist and forgetting the names of the victims.

This terrorist attack happened at a time when Muslims have been continuously been made to feel like second class citizens. This attack happened just two days after President Trump signed an executive order banning citizens from seven countries from entering the country for 90 days, including Syria, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. These are all Muslim majority countries leading many to believe that this executive order is a Muslim ban.

On top of that, Trump also suspended the admission of all refugees for 120 days, right when the world is dealing with a refugee crisis.

Though a handful of anti-Muslim or anti- immigrant hate crimes committed in the wake of Donald Trump’s election were proven to be false, that doesn’t mean that Muslims all over the world are not faced with discrimination.

Within days of each other, Muslims were told that they are not welcome into America by the highest authority in the country and then had to deal with the fact that members of their community became the target of a deadly hate crime.

What happened in Quebec City is a tragedy, one that should not just be added to a growing list of acts of terror and human rights violations against a community whose crimes are committed by a minority within that group.

So when Sean Spicer, President Trump’s White House Press Secretary, and the man infamous for stating that Trump’s inauguration crowd was the largest ever (though aerial photography proved otherwise), defended Trump’s travel ban and refugee suspension by citing the attack saying, “It’s a terrible reminder on why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to our nation’s safety and security.”

To that I say, how dare Trump and his administration use this tragedy to advance their own political agenda. How dare they take the suffering of the Muslim community and use that as a reason why they should be denied entry to the country, or be denied help when they need it the most. How dare they say this when the alleged attacker “liked” Donald Trump and far-right French politician Marine Le Pen on Facebook, and frequently engaged in anti-immigrant and anti-feminist arguments online.

The deaths of these people should not be used as a tool for political gain from an organization that repeatedly shows the world that they disregard the Muslim community’s humanity by characterizing them all as violent terrorists.

Muslims were the victims of an act of terror perpetrated by a white man. Do we consider all white men to be potential terrorist threats? Do we hear someone making anti-immigrant or anti-feminist statements and fear that they are going to commit an act of terrorism? Do we ban all white, conservative and anti-feminist men from entering the country under the guise of national security?

I will never understand what leads certain individuals to commit acts of terror, especially those who commit them against their own country. But what I do understand is that by demonizing and criminalizing Muslims for the actions of a few, it will only breed more hate and animosity while simultaneously kicking to the curb those who just want to live their lives, raise their families and practice their religion in peace.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.