I’m calling for a ban on all white, American Christians from travelling or immigrating to Canada.
Hear me out because it makes about as much sense as anything else happening in the world right now.
Let’s break down some numbers. The number of fatal attacks in the U.S. committed by Jihadist Terrorists from the Visa restricted countries involved in Trump’s ban (yes, it is a ban) since Sept. 11, 2001: zero. The number committed by U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents of the U.S.: 12.
In 2015, Time Magazine cited a report by the New America Foundation (where the aformentioned numbers originate) which indicated in the same time frame 48 people have been killed by right-wing terrorism. Until the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida, white terrorism was responsible for more deaths than any external terrorist threat to our neighbours down south.
I’ve written about it before, but there is a dull, sad silence around right-wing, caucasian shooters. Dylann Roof shot and killed nine churchgoers in South Carolina in 2015, Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children in the Sandy Hook shooting, Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 charges of murder and attempted murder in the 2011 Tuscon shooting, James Holmes killed 12 at a theatre in Aurora Colorado in 2012. Canada added another white shooter to the tragic list only a few days ago.
Related: B.C. Muslim Association calls on police, Muslims to be vigilant after mosque shootings
Their motives vary, but never once was the narrative of young white males as a danger or risk to our security ever put forward. Odd considering, according to data from Mother Jones, around 64 per cent of shootings in the U.S. are the product of caucasian shooters.
So how is the prevailing narrative one which condemns those of the Muslim faith? An estimated population (in 2010) of 1.6 billion worldwide according to PewResearch Centre.
I shouldn’t have to spell this out, obviously I don’t really want a ban on white, American Christians, but the idea is just as absurd and reactionary as restricting travel from countries with prominent Muslim populations.
I must admit I already feel defeated before this column has even become a rough draft because I know I could show some people incontravertable proof right before their eyes before “alternative facts” make their convienient appearance. Much like how Trump’s White House mouthpiece and fan of The Onion, Sean Spicer, pointed to the Quebec mosque shooting as an example of why “extreme vetting” is necessary in a tone deaf attempt to make their puzzle pieces fit a picture that is just not there.
Fox News tried in vain to label the Quebec mosque shooter as “Moroccan,” but why? In the paraphrased words of the Dalai Lama, as soon as one commits a terroist act inciting bloodshed, their faith becomes irrelevant. I do not perscribe to any particular faith, but I know none of them legitimately promote killing in the name of any deity — despite eons of history of people claiming the contrary.
The us-and-them narrative does nothing but drum up support and outrage, a healthy source of energy for the Legion of Doom currenlty gathering up a cabal at the White House. Go forward knowing your all-caps condemnation of a faith encompassing billions is really a rallying cry for your own insecurity, not the nation’s.
Dale Boyd is a reporter with the Penticton Western News and this is his opinion column.
Related: Video: Vigil held for those killed at Quebec mosque