On September 17th three coincidental attacks took place and concern swept the nation. A trash can exploded in a Manhattan neighborhood injuring twenty-nine people. An explosion also occurred in New Jersey near a Marine Corps 5K charity run, and a man in a security uniform stabbed nine individuals at the Minnesota Mall. The topic has flooded social media platforms, radio stations, and news stations. All three incidents are currently under investigation and police officials are still trying to find leads on both of the explosions. It's not unheard of for ISIS to claim responsibility for such attacks. The Boston Marathon bombing, the San Bernardino attack, and the Orlando shooting are just a few examples of attacks that were inspired by or conducted by ISIS. However, since we have had so many of these attacks people are quick to jump the gun and claim any incident of public violence an act of terrorism which strikes fear in a majority of the population. Not only does it create chaos, but it continues to divide the nation.
When any act of violence is automatically assumed to be related to Islamic terrorism it perpetuates discrimination and creates unnecessary fear among the population. For instance, when a fourteen-year-old Muslim boy named Ahmed Mohamed brought a homemade digital clock to school in Irving, Texas he was arrested for creating a fake bomb. He was released shortly after the police discovered that there was no immediate threat and Hillary Clinton made the comment, "assumptions don't keep us safe."
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What happened to create this fear? We can solve this problem by being a bit more open-minded, and we can start by not jumping to conclusions. Sometimes people fail to see the root cause of a problem because it's put under an umbrella category. People are quick to accept the easy explanation much too often instead of digging for the truth.
