Muslim Lives Matter

Protest against BBC silence over Chapel Hill Shooting

Muslim communities and anti-racists will stand side-by-side in protest this evening outside the BBC in an act of condemnation against their silence following the horrific shooting of three Muslim individuals in America.

In stark contrast to the shootings in Paris, there was no immediate coverage of the murders, which did not make headline news of even covered in the main news bulletin. Instead, there killings saw widespread coverage through the medium of social media, whether #MuslimLivesMatter trended – a reference to the racial motivation behind the attack and the lack of media coverage of the incident.

Sabby Dhalu, Organiser of Stand up to racism said:

“Our condolences and thoughts are with the families and friends of Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha,and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha. We support their calls for this to be considered a hate crime. Any loss of life should be treated equally.

Muslim people are consistently portrayed as the perpetrators but not the victims of terrorism and hatred. We are saddened by the lack of media coverage in this case, which stands in stark contrast to the wall to wall top story coverage that the Paris shootings rightfully received.

Politicians and influential figures lined up to blame the entire Muslim community for those horrific actions and ‘kill all muslims’ trended worldwide on twitter without an international outcry. We are concerned that attacks against the Muslim community are taking place in a heightened climate of Islamophobia and hatred.

We will say loudly and clearly tonight that Muslim lives matter, all attacks of this nature should be brought to justice and receive equal coverage.

Weyman Bennett, Joint National Secretary Unite Against Fascism said:

“The prevalence of racism and Islamophobia means that when Muslim and Black people are murdered, their plight is willfully ignored. In a modern democracy, the first right is a right to life.

“To deny Muslim people equal treatment is a reflection of anti-Muslim racism in our society. We must stand in solidarity with the Muslim community. They are today’s scapegoats. Tomorrow it will be others.”