Muslims are angry and afraid

Muslims are angry and afraid. NZ Muslims, Australian Muslims, anyone who has seen the footage cannot but be angry and afraid.

In what was about a five minute shooting spree, Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant, walked into the Al Noor mosque and gunned down innocent people who were in the middle of their prayers and then just walked out continued shooting and spoke about his evil deeds as if he had just finished playing a video game.

Muslims are angry. Today, 50 people have lost their lives, their families' lives have been turned upside down. Why?

The war in Syria, the war in Burma, the war in Gaza, has been brought to our very doorstep. This was not a random lone wolf attack. It was an organized, terror cell, equipped with the most lethal weaponry available along with Improvised Explosive Devices that were thankfully not detonated.

Muslims are angry because this terrorist was known to the public, he had been planning this attack for two years and he had made posts on social media, yet he was not detected, he was not under surveillance and he was not apprehended before his heinous crime. Why?

I, personally, am angry and I am afraid to go back to my place of worship because every time I step foot in the mosque I see the killing and hear the wailing of the victims. It haunts me.

We are all afraid that the next killings will be in here in our own backyard, why? Because, we know of right wing groups who have marched in the streets calling for hatred towards Muslims, we have seen them calling for the blood of Muslims through mock beheadings and those people are still free at large.

We are afraid now because it's only a matter of time when it happens here in Australia. Because our elected leaders continue to shield these right-wing nutters and feed into their narrative, that Muslims are a threat and that somehow they are at fault for all the problems in the world.

An elected official, Fraser Anning has come out only hours after the slaughter of innocent lives and placed the blame fair and square on the victims. He will continue to stay in office while a traumatised community must go back to work, back to the mosque, back to school, back to their lives and try to make sense of this madness.

When the lone wolf attack carried out by Hassan Shire Ali killed a random person in Bourke street Melbourne, we were all shocked and saddened by the loss. The Prime Minister Scott Morrison, at the time called on Muslim leaders to do more and out those who were radicalized.

Will the PM do the same this time and call upon the White Australian community "to do more" to combat radicalized Australian Christians and to identify them to police? The first person they should identify is Fraser Anning.

We are sick of our politicians giving fuel to the terrorists and their supporters, to the white supremacists and the neo-nazi, anti-semitic, anti-immigration anti-Muslim, xenophobes.

Fraser Anning should resign immediately from office because he is a disgrace to all members of parliament. This is not about curbing free speech, this is about stopping those with parliamentary privilege to abuse their power by inciting hatred and violence in the name of bigotry and his case, Christianity (he himself quoted from the Bible).

We are angry and afraid of what lays in store for us. I as a parent have to explain to my children what happened, to allay their fears and their confusion. I have to reassure them that this was an isolated incident and that it would 'never' happen in Australia. I would be lying.

While we are collectively suffering and in pain, the Muslim community will not allow this evil act to stop them from loving this country and building a safe and cohesive society. We have always strived for those goals even while being branded as terrorists and sympathisers of terrorism.

We have turned a corner and now its time for our leaders to shut up or put up.

Its time to stop laying the blame on either side and unite as one humanity.