Shooting in Québec

I heard about the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec in Québec City this morning. My heart is broken. As some of you know, I was born in Montréal, and consider Québec part of my roots. I didn't think this kind of thing was possible in Canada. But apparently it is. I'm shocked and appalled that someone would even think this is a good idea, let alone go out and kill people.

This is what is known as a second-order effect. Some people would say this has nothing to do with what's going on South of the border. I call hogwash. Trump banning immigration from muslim nations sends a signal. By blaming muslims, he's sending a signal that it's ok to hate people based on their faith.

Ironically, this is exactly what so-called "islamic extremists" do. They scapegoat other groups and then make it normal to use physical violence.

This is why we need to stand up to Trump. Not just because his policies are terrible, but because he's going to make it ok for others to do much more extreme acts. We need to make it very clear that this is not ok. It's not ok to hate someone for their faith - or gender, sexuality, or anything else. And it's certainly not ok to kill people for your own beliefs.