Racist Memes

Canada, Oppression

Lately, I have seen way too many racist memes and text on social media and racist policy from our government. Much of these messages include untrue stereotypes and conflated comparisons so I have decided to make a list of truths.

The following list contains truths as I see them. I am a white, atheist male born in Canada so I do not purport to be an expert on the Muslim faith. I am open to learning though…

Debunking Canadian racism against persons of Muslim faith (in no particular order):

  1. Newcomers are not going to ‘steal your jobs’ and they are not going to drain the economy. Canada has welcomed newcomers for hundreds of years and, for the most part, our economy has continually grown.
  2. Refugees from Syria are largely educated and secular. They are not responsible for civil war in Syria. They are civilians and are not a threat to Canada.
  3. Citizenship should be permanent. And if government insists on policy to remove citizenship from those deemed to be convicted terrorists, it should be removed by a rational-thinking judge using evidence and  NOT by politicians.
  4. Muslims do NOT hate Jesus. Jesus is a prophet in the Qur’an.
  5. Muslims do NOT hate beer. Some abstain and some drink tasty craft beer.
  6. Burkas, Niqabs and Hijabs are all different and not all Muslim women wear them. Descriptions can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk
  7. Various forms of head coverings are also worn by Christians and Jews.
  8. If you think the Qur’an is about war and terror, try reading the Old Testament.
  9. The Klu Klux Klan cover their faces to avoid being caught committing hate crimes. Some women cover their faces for reasons of modesty. The KKK is not comparable to women of faith.
  10. Two women in approximately 700,000 immigrants have requested to wear a niqab during Canadian citizenship ceremonies and Conservatives made it into an election issue.
  11. Banning the niqab at citizenship ceremonies and other public events will only act to further oppress Muslim women.
  12. Many Muslim women who wear head coverings are strong, feminist women.
  13. The presence of terrorism was, at least partly, created by western meddling in the middle east. ISIS didn’t exist before US invaded Iraq following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
  14. Neither Iraq nor ISIS were involved with the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
  15. Christians are not judged and branded as KKK members and Muslims should not be judged and branded as terrorists.
  16. Sharia law is not coming to Canada.
  17. If you are worried that newcomers will change your way of life for the worse, you probably don’t know many newcomers. The only newcomers to significantly change the way of life in Canada were early Europeans who invaded and oppressed those who were already living here.
  18. Diversity is awesome! Diversity can be celebrated and we can all learn new things when meeting persons of cultures different from our own.

Please feel free to use any of the above with or without credit. Just please spread truth and peace rather than hate and racism.

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