Building hate-free communities: Speaker highlights inclusion efforts at UW-La Crosse symposium

Discrimination toward Muslim Americans and other minorities is perhaps best illustrated by the way politicians and journalists speak about mass shootings, according to Masood Akhtar.

“When a shooter is Muslim … what happens with media and elected officials?” Akhtar asked a crowd Tuesday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. “They say he’s a terrorist. Terrorist attack. And it doesn’t stop there. Muslim terrorist. Islamic terrorist, associating his action with our religion. And that’s where the problem is. If the shooter is a white, young kid, you don’t see those words.”