At 3:15 AM of Jan. 1 today, an armed man intentionally drove a speeding truck into a New Year's Eve celebration crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans' French Quarter early Wednesday, killing at least 10 and injuring more than 30 (six of whom seriously injured) before being shot and killed by police in what the FBI is calling a terrorist assault.
Nine hours after this horrific attack, no information about the attacker's identity or a photo has been made publicly available by law enforcement agencies. Hold your horses, the attacker was not an immigrant, no Middle Eastern connection, and he was not a "Moooslem either."
If the New Year's Day attacker in New Orleans was a Muslim, here is a summary of what I think the reaction would be:
* The story with 24/7 news for days to come.
* Islam and Muslims would be put on trial.
* Trump will be tweeting to his 45 million followers, "I told you so, Islam hates us!"
* We would know what mosque the shooter attended, the charity he gave to, and his favorite vacation spot.
* The "Imam" of the mosque would be blamed for radicalizing the "terrorist" and his rhetoric has stoked the attack.
* U.S. officials will be quick to condemn Muslims as bloodthirsty savages.
* It would be the lead story on every TV station and a front-page story in every newspaper.
* TV stations would preempt regularly scheduled programs for constant updates and analyses.
* Major TV networks will dispatch their top-notch hosts to broadcast from New Orleans.
* The topic would be on every radio talk show for listeners to vent their frustration.
* We will see more people use the slogan "Je Suis New Orleans."
* Facebook users around the world would pay tribute to the victims by changing their profile pictures.
* Concerned Americans will visit the crime scene with flowers and dolls for moral support.
* Last but not least, Muslim communities would be asked the most naive question: Do they condone or condemn the New Orleans terrorist attack?
Nine hours after this horrific attack, no information about the attacker's identity has been made publicly available by law enforcement agencies. Hold your horses, the attacker was not an immigrant, had no Middle Eastern connection, and he was not a "Moooslem either." And there was no name or photo released by the police. I wonder why?
When I read about the latest tragic news in New Orleans very early this morning, I hoped and prayed that the culprit was neither Muslim nor have connections to the Middle East. There is no doubt in my mind that Muslim haters were crossing their fingers that the terrorist who committed this crime is a Muslim or a foreign national.
It is ironic how quickly public officials and news organizations blame Islam when a Muslim commits a crime; however, when non-Muslims commit a crime, their religion is never mentioned. How do you spell hypocrisy?
Finally, this Muslim offers his condolences and prayers to the family and friends and all who witness this horrible massacre last night in New Orleans. Americans should sleep better tonight knowing that President Joe Biden was informed about this tragedy and that he is being constantly updated.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelancer for Islamicity.com and Columbu
New Orleans Terror Attack: 10 killed and 35 injured. Photo credit ibtimes.sg