Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Faculty: Don’t turn our tragedy into hate

We are deeply saddened by the violence that ruptured the fabric of our campus and local community on Wednesday at UC Merced. One person is dead, four are recovering from injuries, and many more are emotionally traumatized by these acts of violence.

We are also deeply troubled by the immediate surge of anti-Islamic, anti-Arab sentiment that followed the identification of the perpetrator as UC Merced student Faisal Mohammad. So far, we have only Mohammad’s name and that he was Muslim. But such information has no necessary correlation to the circumstances that led to his violent actions.

As faculty members who study race, religion, immigration, identity and violence, we ask the members of the Merced and University of California communities to actively resist any efforts to transform this moment of collective tragedy into a platform for general Islamophobia or rhetoric that derives from specific political agendas.

We define “Islamaphobia” as generalized anti-Islam sentiment or xenophobia against Muslims or people of Middle Eastern, Arab and South Asian origin, including Sikhs. This is a moment for healing and dialogue – not hate speech and demagoguery.

These acts of campus violence have unfortunately become all too common in the United States. When the perpetrator is a white man (which is the most common ethnicity), people do not emphasize the race or gender identity of white males who have committed similar acts, nor do they make calls in social media to imprison all white men or banish all white people from our community.

We are disturbed by calls on social media and in some sensationalistic news that invoke Islamaphobia in the aftermath of this tragedy on our campus.

Moments like this remind us of the perils of prejudice and discrimination. We should be particularly careful to avoid the assumption that practitioners of Islam are prone to violence. To do so is to practice a virulent form of racism, which we cannot tolerate on our campus or in our community. All UC Merced students, staff and faculty who might be recognized as Muslim or Arab (regardless of their actual heritage or religion) are less safe today than they were yesterday, and that is not acceptable.

UC Merced possesses a welcoming, inclusive, diverse community, and we cannot allow this tragedy to define us or to tear us apart.

We must focus our attention on strengthening our bonds by asking ourselves, as individuals and as a community: What can our campus do to better ensure the health and well-being of all of our students and the broader Merced community?

In addition we ask: What can we do to avoid this kind of violence in the future? How can we create a climate where students do not enact violence upon one another? How can we avoid situations in which police officers use deadly force against UC Merced students on campus?

As UC Merced faculty members, we will strive to provide support for all community members during and after this tragedy. As Critical Race and Ethnic Studies faculty members, we will strive to promote respect and understanding for all members of our community.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Faculty: Don’t turn our tragedy into hate."