The Washington, D.C., office director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Hoda Hawa, on Monday said that she thinks the media tends to cover white terrorists differently than Muslim terrorists.
Commenting on last week’s mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques, Hawa said that it was interesting the media has not tried to focus on the alleged gunman’s name and has almost humanized him with stories about his past.
“It’s interesting because this shooter is a white male, and there have been efforts to not focus on his name,” Hawa told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
“When we do see these stories of his background and his past and the way that he grew up, these stories are almost humanizing him,” she continued. “But, when the attacker is a person of color, that happens to be a Muslim, then immediately the name is exposed, and they’re vilified and demonized, as they should be.”
The massacre in New Zealand left at least 50 people dead and dozens injured.
The alleged shooter voiced white nationalist views in a manifesto released shortly before the attack last week.
“In fact, we’ve seen tweets, and other media statements from various politicians, who in the past when the attacker was a Muslim, they were called animals, and disgusting, and barbarians, and with this shooter, we’re not seeing those types of adjectives being attached to his name,” she said.
“What’s really important that we need to center these stories around the victims, the families of the victims, and we need to move forward in terms of how are we going to come up with policy solutions so that this doesn’t happen again to any community,” she said.
President Trump has faced backlash for his response to the attack, which critics say does not fully condemn white nationalism.
The president on Friday said he thinks he doesn’t see a rise in white nationalism, saying the views stem from a “small group of people that have very, very serious problems.” Trump did call the attack “senseless” and “horrific.”
— Julia Manchester
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