Avoid stereotyping in ongoing terrorism case
On April 15, the Boston Marathon bombings claimed three innocent lives, physically injured 282 and emotionally traumatized the nation. As the headlines continue to reveal more about those responsible, it is important not to stereotype terrorists by their religion or by their ethnicity.
The current suspects, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are two American citizens mistakenly reported to have emigrated from Chechnya, a predominately Muslim “state” within Russia that has been the source of various terrorist acts and civil unrest. And while the duo are ethnically Chechen, most Chechens are not terrorists, and assumptions should not be made about the reason for these attacks.
Likewise, the simple fact that both of the Tsarnaev brothers practice Islam alone does not make the duo terrorists. While some may believe the duo’s motives were tied to their unease with America’s foreign involvement in recent wars, their actions are not reflective of Islamic teachings.
Terrorism is the use of violence or force as a means of coercion or fear. After the Civil War, the U.S. itself established a prominent terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan, that used violence as a means of coercion. Many members attended church on Sunday and were “devout” Christians who used a burning cross as one of their signatures. Does this mean we should label all of Christianity and its adherents with European ancestry as racist and violent?
We cannot use the background of the Tsarnaevs to label anyone with a similar background as terrorists. Just like all white Christian Americans are not KKK members, neither are all Chechen Muslims radical terrorists.
— Grant Shaffer, third-year management science student