15th March 2019: Six years later

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, People, Politics, Social Media

I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes I struggle to find humour in discussing certain topics. Not that I’m an expert in comedy—far from it—but today’s blog post is one of those times when I can find very little humour.

To make sure we all understand what I’m talking about, let’s very quickly establish the facts. On 15th March 2019, a lone gunman, armed with a collection of firearms, including semi-automatic rifles, shot and killed 51 people and injured 89, at the Al Noor Mosque, and Linwood Islamic Centre, in Christchurch, New Zealand. This event became known as the Christchurch mosque shootings or the Christchurch mosque attacks.

I’m not going to rehash the events of 15th March 2019, minute by minute. Professional journalists and reporters have done that already, so I can’t add anything new to the conversation.

The purpose of this blog post is to express my feelings and emotions about the sixth anniversary of the deadliest shootings in modern New Zealand history.

I have a strong connection to Christchurch, even though I no longer live there. I attended university in the city, played football, and met my wife there. It’s where we got married, and additionally, my first child, UMC1, was born in Christchurch. I was even present during the ML6.3 earthquake that struck on 22nd February 2011, which tragically resulted in the loss of 185 lives.

We moved away from Christchurch in early 2016, but it’s still important to us.

Christchurch features a large public open space in the city centre known as Hagley Park, which was one of my favourite places to run. I would always run in an anti-clockwise direction around the park, with Al Noor Mosque on my right-hand side, directly across from the park. The mosque is a famous and significant site for both the city and the Muslim community.

As for the Linwood Islamic Centre, it was only opened in 2018, but I lived only three blocks from the future site, so I know the area quite well. I wasn’t in Christchurch when the shootings happened, but six years later, I am still a mixed bag of emotions surrounding it.

Before I continue, I want to clarify that I did not know anyone who was shot or injured, so families of the victims and survivors will have a much more personal experience than I do. I don’t want to disrespect anyone’s experience, I simply want to express my emotions and feelings because I believe our country and the world are forgetting the lessons that day taught us.

Credit: Combating Terrorism Center

Let’s start with easy emotions, like shame and sadness. Six years later, I’m still ashamed and saddened those murders happened in Christchurch, let alone in New Zealand. The city and country are forever linked to that day and will have to carry an albatross around their necks, until the end of time. Granted, the albatross will gradually decrease in mass and weight, but it will always be there.

There’s also the sadness and shame in educating and explaining to our tamariki (children) about that day, because it relates to them, directly and indirectly.

This brings us to the shame and sadness towards the Muslim community of Christchurch, New Zealand, and the world. Some of the people attending the two mosques were born in New Zealand, while others were born overseas, with some being refugees.

I still feel sad and ashamed for the families having to travel; especially from other countries to mourn their loved ones, because they should have been safe here in New Zealand. They should’ve been, and it was disgusting and unforgivable.

Besides the location, a place of worship like a mosque, church, synagogue, or temple, should be a place of safety and protection for people. It still upsets me that this evil act of hatred was committed, not just against Muslims, or Christchurch or New Zealand, but it happened at all.

My experiences of feeling shame and sadness towards the attacks are also deeply connected to my anger and rage.

  • I’m still angry someone was able to amass a collection of firearms of that magnitude with ease.
  • I’m angry that he was able to livestream the first shootings on Facebook.
  • I’m angry that a white migrant shot and killed other migrants because they were from a different ethnic background to him.
  • I’m angry that the gunman believed in the conspiracy theory of the Great White Replacement. Long-time followers and readers of this account will understand my views towards conspiracy theorists and the garbage they peddle.
  • I’m angry that it happened in New Zealand, and of course, Christchurch.
  • I’m angry not only for the Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, and around the world, but also for the Muslims where I live.
  • I’m angry that this evil act empowered supporters of conspiracy theories, the alt-right, and anti-Islam groups in New Zealand to speak up.
  • I’m angry for the victims and their families because this should not have happened.
  • And I’m angry as a white, straight non-Muslim New Zealand male. This country has been slowly working towards diversity and inclusion for over 170 years, so the whole thing is a nightmare.

Having said that, you can’t have light without the dark, and just like the Christchurch earthquakes, you can’t have dark without the light. The 15th of March 2019 was one of the worst days in living memory for my country, but it allowed hope and pride to take centre stage.

  • The way the city, country and government, rallied around the victims and their families, was and still is excellent.
  • The flowers, hakas, and tributes were wonderful.
  • The denouncing of hatred towards people of our community and country was powerful.
  • The work towards pressuring social media companies to regulate more of their content, especially around hate speech and livestreaming, was impressive.
  • Closing the gun law loopholes and making semi-automatic firearms illegal was swift and direct.
  • There were stories of bravery, love, compassion, and humanity that were uplifting.
  • The backlash over the upcoming film, detailing the shootings was glorious by the New Zealand public.

Ultimately, what gave me hope and made me proud as a New Zealander, was the amazing response to the shootings. The world looked at New Zealand at one of our lowest and darkest days, so we did what New Zealanders only know how to: we embraced the victims and families because they were us; and told hate groups to fuck off, because this event would not stop us from doing the right thing, as in being a nation of diversity and inclusion.

There are many other emotions I could talk about, but the main one that remains is frustration, which concerns what’s currently happening in New Zealand and around the world.

  • In New Zealand, our new government have said they are open to rolling back the assault weapons ban, “…because it punishes the good and responsible gun owners.”
  • Taking his cues from the President of the United States of America, our Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, wants to start an anti-woke crusade, to weed out DEI hires, because, according to him, diversity and inclusion are tools of the left.
  • Attacks and prejudice towards the LGBTQIA+ community are increasing the world over.
  • Because of Hamas’ actions, anti-Muslim attacks are rising, along with antisemitism, because of the actions of the Israeli government.
  • For all the optics, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, seems to be at the very least, a Nazi-sympathiser.
  • The Great White Replacement conspiracy theory is still being pushed by popular anchors, hosts, and influencers.
  • People are still making racist jokes online and in person; along with spewing hate speech on social media platforms, with little or no recourse.
  • Fascism is being dragged into the 21st century for a reboot.

I feel frustrated, because to me, a lot of the lessons of tolerance, compassion, diversity and inclusion, surrounding the shootings, are getting lost in the noise of prejudice, hatred, nationalism and extreme behaviour; even here in New Zealand.

We have been slowly falling back into the mindset of, “…if another group of people are different from me, or if I don’t understand them, that makes them wrong.”

It’s frustrating to witness the tremendous efforts that have been made to rebuild and move forward from the shootings, been slowly eroded due to everyday life. The rise of disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate groups, along with various governments claiming that diversity and inclusion weaken us, is both disheartening and morally wrong.

We already have enough violence in Ukraine, Palestine, Congo, South Sudan, and Myanmar; we don’t need to add to it. We need to get back to educating our family, friends, and the public, that diversity, inclusion, tolerance, and compassion are strengths, and they are the glue that binds us together, not separating us. And we do this through actions, not just words.

I think that’s enough for today. I need my precious beauty sleep because my wrinkles are becoming deeper and wider. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me.

Just like last week, please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, continue to tell Nazis to fuck off, and I’ll see you next week.