By Kaamil Ahmed
Muslims have often been the first to bemoan selective empathy; now we are being called out ourselves.
The lack of solidarity shown by non-black Muslims when black men or women are killed by police officers in the US is increasingly coming under scrutiny, given we have often demanded the same in the face of Islamophobia.
It was a discussion that came to the fore months ago with the #OurThreeBoys campaign, when the response to the killing of three Sudanese-Americans was particularly muted. Instead of challenging reactionary attempts to portray the boys in a bad light, as many did for Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, many Muslim reactions bought into the “gang-related” excuse to not care.
The recent killings in the US of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile have revived that debate about how Muslims relate to Black Lives Matter, whether the victims are Muslim or not. #OurThreeBoys was an example of non-black Muslims not seeing the intersections within their own religious community but the recent debate seems more centred on a lack of passion for anything beyond our own interests, even when the issues are connected.
Our silence extended to another part of the world, one much closer to home for many British Muslims: Kashmir. More than 35 were killed and 1,000 injured in the past week but Kashmiris felt the worst violence in Indian-held Kashmir since 2010 was not being given the attention other causes attract.
There were not the same calls by Muslims for more media coverage or Facebook buttons for solidarity in Kashmir that usually accompanies other crises, suggesting perhaps that western Muslims are as susceptible to hierarchies of sympathy as those who mourn Paris but not Turkey.
Ramzy Baroud - I call on all of us to stand with Kashmir.... | Facebook
– Talking Points is a weekly summary of issues being discussed by Muslims in Britain and the West
Our silence: on black lives and Kashmir — Talking Points was originally published in Convivencia Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Read the responses to this story on Medium.
