Student responds to Christchurch attack

Barisha Tashnin, a Year 9 student, made this beautiful speech on Harmony Day after the Christchurch attack:

Assalamualaikum everyone, my name is Barisha and I wanted to take a couple minutes to speak to you guys about something quite close to me. I’m sure a lot of you all already know what happened last friday on the 15th of March but for those who don’t, there was a terrorist attack that occurred in 2 mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. This attack took the lives of 50 innocent people and left another 50 injured. This hit home for me because it was an attack on every part of my identity. I am a Muslim New Zealander. These attacks significantly affected the Muslim community not only in New Zealand but all around the world. This was a horrifying experience for me and other kiwis because I never would have thought that something like this would ever occur in my peaceful home.

This was a hate crime that was carried out by extremists due to Islamophobia. Their intentions were to kill innocents and spread this Islamophobia but it did the complete opposite. Churches, communities and everyone has come together to stand with us Muslims and show us support in this time of tragedy. It’s brought everyone closer together drawing countless New Zealanders and Australians out of their homes to place beautiful flowers and messages outside of their local mosques. It has shown a gratifying amount of love and support and it’s honestly been so overwhelming.

I believe and hope that this attack has opened the eyes of non muslims out there to my religion. Just like other religions, Islam is a beautiful religion of peace and mercy contrary to what the media portrays it to be. I would just like everyone to know that we muslims do not count the small group of extremists out there that claim themselves to be a part of Islam. They are not muslim, they go against every rule we have regarding violence.

My parents have always told me that violence was never okay, I was taught to greet everyone with ‘assalamualaikum’ which means peace be upon you and to smile at everyone because that was a form of charity in Islam. I was taught by my religion to accept everyone regardless of religion, race and sexuality. I was raised with the same values as you and so has every other muslim kid out there. We are not any different.

Extremism has no place in our society and we need to work harder to cultivate a peaceful world. It only takes a few silly comments or sharing memes about someone’s faith to start cultivating that hate. So, I urge you to educate yourself and reach out to your muslim classmate, friend or neighbour to learn more about us. You’d soon realise that we have more in common than you’d think. Like you, we also love eating pizza, going to the beach and having a fun netflix night with friends. The biggest thing you and I have in common is that we all just want to live in a peaceful and harmonious society.

This terror attack has broken my heart and the hearts of many others but it almost feels like these broken pieces are being put back together with all this love and support. And I am so thankful for that.
As cheesy as this may sound, it’s after times like these when we should all try to love and support one another regardless of our differences and come together as one community.

I’ve given your year advisor a box to collect money to donate to the victims and their families so if you could contribute even just a couple of cents, that would be amazing. I will also be collecting money tomorrow during period 1 so that’s another opportunity to donate if you’d like to do so. Thank you.