Well, that didn’t take long.
Less than 24 hours after a crazed gunman stormed two mosques in New Zealand killing some 49 people, an Australian senator sounding a lot like a damn senator from the U.S. has blamed the mass shooting of Muslims ... on, you guessed it ... Muslims.
Shortly after the attack at not one, but two mosques where Muslims had gathered to pray, Queensland senator Fraser Anning tweeted: “Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?” the Guardian reports.
As if that weren’t horrible enough, Anning doubled down adding: “As always, leftwing politicians and the media will rush to claim that the causes of today’s shootings lie with gun laws or those who hold nationalist views, but this is all cliched nonsense.”
And, in case you weren’t clear about how Anning felt, he added: “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.”
Yep. Go back and read it again because that absolutely happened. The Muslims gathered in a place of worship who were killed for simply being Muslim and gathering in a place of worship are to blame for their death ...
Wow.
Needless to say several folks have already condemned these remarks.
“At a time for grieving and reflection, this Australian senator … fans the flames of violence & extremism,” UK home secretary, Sajid Javid tweeted.
“Australians will be utterly ashamed of this racist man. In no way does he represent our Australian friends.”
Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said: “The remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, rightwing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting,” the Guardian reports.
“Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian parliament.”
The former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called Fraser Anning’s comments “contemptible.”
“He is a disgrace to the Senate and what is worse, by spreading hatred and turning Australians against each other, he is doing exactly what the terrorists want.”
But Anning did prove that whiteness is a global product that isn’t traded only in the states, and as such, it is to be defended and protected so that the value of whiteness is never diminished. Even in death—death in which they played no part; death brought upon them be merely existing in space of worship for those who believe what they believed—they are at fault. Not the terrorist fighting to preserve whiteness. Not the man who busted into their most sacred space and fired some 200 shots. The worshippers did this.
Thankfully America has leaders that can recognize that racial violence for what it is and doesn’t embolden white supremacist terrorism by claiming that there are good people on both sides.
Wait ...