Muslim Writer Says Mass Shootings Are A ‘White Man’s Problem,’ And Internet Goes Nuclear

A late singer’s iconic lyrics say, “This is a Man’s World,” but a Muslim woman says mass shootings in America are specifically a “white man’s problem.”

Some things are better “thought” than said — at least this is what several critics are suggesting after a writer blamed white men for being largely responsible for America’s gun violence where masses of innocent people are targeted.

Naaz Modan, according to her profile on Muslim Girl, is a content editor for the website. She is also a contributor for CNN, where she posted an opinion piece on the Las Vegas mass shootings that left 59 dead and hundreds injured days ago. Her comments have incensed many after she drew parallels between the American spirit of patriotism and mass killings using guns, namely in the hands of rage-filled Caucasian men.

Modan makes a prediction of the chain of events that usually follow high-profile mass shootings — an “American-has-been-here-before” life cycle. She says leaders at the highest levels will offer their “warmest condolences,” but remain “silent” about the root cause of mass shootings.

“Minutes of mourning will pass and murmurs of mental health issues and lone-wolf actors will taper into silence. Taming homegrown terror and tightening gun control will be dismissed as inappropriate or unnecessary politicizing of a tragedy and quickly become secondary to more pressing issues on the administration’s agenda.”

To the writer, it’s simple: White men are the largest perpetrators of mass death by guns on American soil. Some users on Twitter think otherwise.

Hey @NaazModan, if this is the 273rd mass shooting this year, why did you only look at the racial aspect of 62 shootings over 40 years?

— Teddy Hart (@white__hart) October 4, 2017

Modan uses statistics, apparently compiled by the Gun Violence Archive (or GVA), a non-advocacy and not-for-profit group that reports near real-time data on deaths and injuries from guns in America.

How America has silently accepted the rage of white men | Opinion by @naazmodan https://t.co/YW99KgEqhN pic.twitter.com/OT70MFLLU4

— CNN (@CNN) October 4, 2017

According to the information furnished by the writer, in 2017 alone, there have been 273 occurrences involving firearms where multiple people were either killed or injured. GVA describes a mass killing as any occurrence where “four or more shot and/or killed in a single event, at the same general time and location not including the shooter.”

The statistics further show that there have been nearly 11,700 deaths from firearms to-date. Modan says the violence of guns has reached an epidemic; while 440,095 people perished from pistols and long guns between 2001 and 2014, only 3,412 people died from domestic terrorism during the same period.

In August, Newsweek ran a headline in the aftermath of the Clovis library shooting where two people were killed and four injured. Then, the site furthered the ongoing debate on mass shootings. Then, 240 days into the calendar year, the United States logged more mass shootings (244) than days.

Modan says the violent episodes where multiple people are targeted are products of white men, and the disparities are alarming. The data shows that between the time period of 1982 and 2012, there were 62 cases of mass killings — with 44 apparently perpetrated by white men. Of that number, only one was a woman.

“If mass shootings were perpetrated mostly by brown bodies, this would quickly be reframed and reformed as an immigration issue. If thousands died at the hands of black men, it would be used to excuse police brutality, minimize the Black Lives Matter movement and exacerbate the ‘raging black man’ stereotype. If mass shooters identified as Muslim, it would quickly become terrorism and catalyze defense and security expenditures.”

Modan assails a patriotic culture “dressed up as Uncle Sam” for cultivating a society of violence.

“An over-affinity for guns among white men, dangerous against any other backdrop, gets defended as patriotism by many conservatives or even as white pride by those on the alt-right.”

The writer concludes by saying that American politics and race are at the forefront of gun violence. She says that hot-button issues like abortion and terrorism on American soil by foreigners take center stage while homegrown terror by white men results in muted responses from patriots and partisan politicians.

Ironically, the solutions to death and carnage, she suggests, lies in those who celebrate the Second Amendment as a “right” rather than common sense gun control legislation.

[Featured Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]