A horrifying scene unfolded tonight when an anti-immigration white supremacist marched into the Masjid al-Noor mosque, full of worshippers for Friday prayers, in Christchurch, New Zealand and opened fire with an automatic rifle.
Casualty numbers are still unknown but they are expected to be high; early reports suggest as many as 40 to 50 people have been shot. Other reports indicate there may have been a second attack at another mosque in the same city.
BREAKING: Reports of at least 27 people killed in Christchurch mosque shootings – Newshub NZ
— LIVE Breaking News (@NewsBreaking) March 15, 2019
The killer, believed to be a 28-year-old white Australian man named Brenton Tarrant, live-streamed his massacre on social media and reportedly posted a manifesto, in addition to pictures of his weapons emblazoned with white supremacist slogans like the “14 words” (We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”) and the dates of famous historical battles between Christians and Muslims.
Twitter account purporting to belong to Christchurch, New Zealand mass shooter was opened in February 2019, contains news articles and links to white supremacy blogs as well as numerous photos that match weapons used in attack shown on live stream. pic.twitter.com/QBDYaWKmbr
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) March 15, 2019
His posted manifesto was a list of right-wing grievances based on race and religion straight out of the noxious hate-warrens of 8chan, the same disgusting ideas that are sanitized and promoted by the right-wing media here in the United States and the White House itself.
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That much was made obvious with his stated intention to “influence political matters in the United States…by fracturing the US along cultural and racial lines” and his admiration of President Trump as a “symbol of renewed white identity and purpose.”
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#BREAKING: In manifesto, Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shooting suspect said he supported U.S. President Donald Trump "as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose," but not as a policymaker. pic.twitter.com/RHW2SwzjXs
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) March 15, 2019
The massacre is the latest gut-wrenching reminder that no matter how hard the lickspittle sycophants of the right-wing try to fearmonger about violence on the left, it is their own disciples time and time again that commit these kinds of heinous crimes.
Those same conservative pundits that clutched their pearls and howled in impotent rage at the tame remarks of Ilhan Omar against AIPAC but two weeks ago have spent the majority of their worthless careers casually promoting disgusting Islamophobia and defending their fellow white nationalists — and today, we have paid a bloody price in allowing those hateful ideas to metastasize in the minds of disaffected white men.
The same ideas casually promoted by the President of the United States — that “white genocide” is real and that immigrants are part of a grand plot to invade and exterminate the white race — are allegedly at the heart of tonight’s atrocity, and the responsibility for this crime should weigh heavily on his heart.
The original document can be found here; content warning for extreme racism.
