June 13, 2016,
We the Afghan American Artists and Writers’ Association wholeheartedly condemn both the hateful homophobia that motivated the tragic massacre at the gay night club Pulse in Orlando and the hateful rampant Islamophobia that politicians and the media are perpetuating nationwide. We mourn the loss of and express our deepest solidarity with the largely queer people of color who were the victims and their families. As a marginalized people ourselves, we fully support the rights of LGBTQ communities and other QPOC communities, who have been historically and continue to be subjected to rampant violence at the state and society level.
The implications of the anti-Muslim rhetoric that media pundits and politicians have seized upon are equally dangerous. In the current pre-election political climate, Muslims are already othered as fanatic militants and terrorists whose core beliefs are antithetical to Western democracy, progress, and human rights. The corporate media has effectively created a false binary and antagonism between Islam and the West, feeding racist Colonial stereotypes of Islam that have gained new currency since 9/11.
Muslims have been systematically misrepresented in the mainstream media as innately backwards, misogynist, homophobic, and therefore dangerous and a threat to the societies we live in. Such irresponsible speech continues to instigate a collective panic that will lead to further targeting of us in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in airports. Some politicians have raised the level of hysteria by even suggesting that Muslim Americans be isolated in internment camps. Muslim have been subjected to increasing forms of scrutiny, surveillance, and violence.