As much as POTUS likes to use examples of terrorism to exhibit his condemnation for lethal violence and thereby reinforce his own domestic policies, he and his administration were astoundingly silent following the shooting at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec on Sunday, January 29, 2017. The shooter, a French Canadian male named Alexandre Bissonnette, known by his peers as a Trump enthusiast, killed six people at the Quebec mosque and was even incorrectly reported to be of Moroccan heritage by FOX journalists.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, many points of familiar anger arose surrounding the clear lack of international mourning. No flag filters on social media. No classifying of this event as an act of terror on American outlets. No demanding that all Trump supporters speak out against this violence the way Muslims are always brought to task to distance themselves from actions that are not their own.
But again, this is familiar anger. It is familiar in its committed dismissal of Muslim victimhood throughout the world and will continue to be familiar as the status quo remains emboldened and empowered within our highest institutions. In the spirit of resisting this familiar dismissal and depravity, Brown Girl acknowledges the multi-dimensional pains of Muslim victimhood and, now, remembers the six lives lost in this merciless act of terror. Here is what we know about them.
Mamadou Tanou Barry
42 years old.
An immigrant from Guinea.
Ibrahima Barry
39 years old.
An immigrant from Guinea.
Father of four.
Khaled Belkacemi
60 years old.
An immigrant from Algeria.
Father. Husband.
Professor of Soil and Agri-food Engineering.
Abdelkrim Hassane
41 years old.
An immigrant from Algeria.
Father of three.
Programming Analyst for the Quebec provincial government.
Aboubaker Thabti
44 years old.
An immigrant from Tunisia.
Father of two. Butcher.
Azzeddine Soufiane
57 years old.
Immigrant from Morocco.
Halal butcher.
Take note that all of the murdered were immigrants. They all had families. They all looked to Canada as a means for a better life. They all had their lives taken in prayer. They crossed oceans to live in Quebec, only to be slaughtered in cold-blood on the soil they believed was their refuge. Because of growing hatred rooted in new racial conceptions of nationalism, these six beautiful men no longer breathe on this Earth. Remember them.
