The Christchurch terror attack was New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting, taking 51 lives in the process.
On Tuesday, the Royal Commission into the terror attack was released with a report amassing almost 800 pages.
The inquiry found that the attack was driven by extreme right-wing Islamophobic ideologies. The report also highlighted there was "an inappropriate concentration of resources” placed on other terrorism threats that distracted from the emergence of right-wing extremism.
Despite New Zealand intelligence and security agencies "almost exclusively" focusing on Islamist extremism, the report said, there was no way to have prevented the atrocities of March 15.
“Ultimately, this roughly 800-page report can be distilled into one simple premise: Muslim New Zealanders should be safe," NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
In August, just over a year on from the Christchurch attack, SBS Dateline spoke to young Muslims in New Zealand who ensured that after the tragedy they made their voices heard.
Guled Mire and Fatumata Bah are two young NZ Muslims eager to ignite difficult conversations surrounding racism in the country. It’s something they believe has been put off for too long.
“That means, we've been busy cleaning up other people's racism,” Guled told Dateline.
With Australian Brenton Tarrant being sentenced to life in prison without parole over the attack - the first life sentence of that magnitude in New Zealand's history - we talk to some of the people who are a part of a new wave of young, Kiwi Muslims taking leadership roles.
Guled Mire, NZ Muslim community advocate, visiting the graves of the victims of the Christchurch attack. Source: Loading Docs One Year On
‘I just remembered being scared for the first time’
Two days before the Christchurch terror attack, Guled was at an Auckland arts festival. He was sitting beside John Campbell, one of New Zealand’s most recognisable journalists.
The panel was discussing the refugee experience, and Guled was raw, honest, and “unapologetic” in his address. He spoke about the “sense of fear” he has for his five little nieces, who are all growing up in New Zealand.
“One day they're going to have to make a choice. And that choice is whether to wear a hijab or not,” Guled said.
Guled saw first hand how his mother and sister were treated for their choice to wear the hijab in Hamilton and witnessed the “racial slurs that had been directed at them”, or the looks they received while going about their day.
Guled says it’s “surreal to think” that just two days after saying he didn’t feel safe in his country, the tragedy of the Christchurch terrorist attacks happened.
Over a year on from the terror attack which took place on March 15, he still struggles to find the right words.
Guled was talking about his fears around Islamophobia two days before the Christchurch attack. Source: Loading Docs One Year On
“I really can't describe it,” Guled said, “It was definitely anger. It was definitely frustration.”
Fatumata Bah was at work when she heard the news of the attack, it’s a day she says, “I will never forget.” At first, she wasn’t sure what was happening, but when the reported numbers of victims began to increase it sunk in.
“When I heard the numbers had reached about 38 I broke down,” Fatumata told Dateline.
There are 60,000 Muslims who live in New Zealand, they make up 1.3 per cent of the overall population. Fatumata says that means everyone knows someone who has been affected by the attack.
“I just remembered being scared for the first time,” she said.
The experience was no different for Guled, he knew many of the victims. He is a family friend of the Somali family that lost their young three-year-old son, Mucaad.
Fatumata Bah, NZ Muslim community advocate, says the attack was a day she will never forget. Source: Supplied
“That was obviously really, really devastating to see,” he said.
“We all know people.”
How young NZ Muslims have shifted the narrative around racism
Guled was with a group of his friends on the night of the attack, their eyes were focused on the news. But as he watched the coverage he couldn’t help but feel frustrated and unsatisfied with the analysis, he says, “for so long we’ve been under the public eye”.
“So when our community was attacked, we couldn't still freely express [ourselves], we were taking up space, even in those moments, in those hours,” he said.
The Muslim community, like many communities, can be hierarchical which means emerging voices find it difficult to breakthrough.
Guled wouldn’t be sitting on the sidelines for much longer. . It was time for him to enter centre stage.
“My friends and I were just really, really frustrated about that. We were like, why can't you know, they just say it like it is,” Guled said.
“A couple of hours later, I got the call, to help create the narrative that I want to put out there.”
It meant less than 24 hours after the attack Guled was on the biggest breakfast television show in the country addressing what he says has been swept under the carpet: racism.
Guled Mire. Source: Loading Docs One Year On
“We like to consider ourselves as being a socially progressive country. And really, it is that sense of complacency that allowed the conditions that paved the way for this terrorist,” Guled said.
For Guled, the tragedy provided a catalyst to ensure the difficult conversations about racism were no longer on the backburner.
“We owe it to the 51 victims to continue these discussions,” he said.
Like Guled, Fatumata also got a call. It was the , an organisation that looks to empower Muslim women. They were holding a solidarity rally for victims the following day, and wanted her to speak.
In the days following the massacre, it was still unknown whether there would be further attacks. The NZ police were still patrolling mosques, the details were all still coming in.
Despite being an “introvert” Fatumata decided she needed to speak at the rally. It wasn’t a decision she took lightly, she had the concerns of her parents weighing on her.
“New Zealand needed to hear the voices of the Muslim community and I was asked as a young leader to step up, and leadership is actually not always fun,” she said.
“I am broken, yes, I am scared, but I will not let the hatred of one person take over my sense of safety or security.”
“On the 15th of March this year, the video of my speech at the rally came up in my newsfeed,” Fatumata said, “I can hear my voice breaking as I listen back.”
Fatumata speaking a day after the Christchurch terror attack in Auckland, NZ. Source: Supplied
It was a very difficult day but leadership, she says, comes with the “responsibility of taking the reins during times of distress”.
The narrative mentioned by Guled is something that was at the forefront of Fatumata’s mind: the history of violence in New Zealand, a settler colony. It’s what, she says, “we need to analyse”.
“We never really came to terms that we have had violence in our past. It is a part of who we are,” she said.
The chief question she was interested in exploring is: how do we build a diverse society that co-exists without violence?
“I think it was really pivotal to be a part of that narrative,” she said, and particularly “to have the Muslim voice at the front and center.”
The work of young NZ Muslims, Fatumata says, has “closed the generational gap”.
Fatumata believes young NZ Muslims have stood up in trying times. Source: Supplied
She believes the older generation took note that when a situation calls for it “our young people will stand up.”
“[In a] traditionally hierarchical community within the mosques and within our own communities, our voices as well have been more empowered but also accepted and acknowledged,” she said.
A year on from the attack
A lot has changed over the past year, Guled believes that before the Christchurch attack the New Zealand media knew very little about the Muslim community.
Now, Guled’s become one of the most prominent Muslim faces in New Zealand. But the burden of carrying the mantle for a community still recovering from trauma isn’t easy for him. He says this isn’t his full-time job, and people sometimes forget that.
“When you put yourself in public spaces, and we know this from evidence, you become a target,” he said.
Guled leading the prayer with his friends. Source: Loading Docs One Year On
“It's mentally exhausting,” Guled said, “the thing is, many of us never really chose to kind of be in the situation. We just found ourselves here.”
In the months after Christchurch, a study on in New Zealand revealed 52 per cent of Muslims surveyed experienced abuse online. The study involved 1,161 people and found higher rates of experiencing online hate speech than their previous 2018 study.
While Fatumata is conscious of the “nasties”, as she refers to them on social media, she believes there have been strides in the broader New Zealand community. She says has seen more Muslim women sign up for local boards, council, and other leadership roles.
“We felt that we could put ourselves forward and be in those more visible roles of leadership,” she said.
Now, Guled is gearing up for a move after receiving New Zealand’s Fullbright Scholarship to study at Cornell University in New York - when the pandemic recedes. For now, his role is starting to shift within the community.
“My focus is on supporting the next generation, equipping them with the tools and the support that they need to be able to flourish,” he said.
“I never had anybody showing me the ropes. I never had anybody I could go to for advice.”
The path to the Ivy League wasn’t always so clear for Guled. He dropped out of high school when he was 16, and says his teachers told him university was not for people like him.
Guled preparing for his studies at Cornell University. Source: Loading Docs One Year On
His wants to ensure young Muslims growing up aren’t being told, like he was, to “be more realistic in terms of my career objectives”.
“I hope my teachers have been watching the news.”
This article was originally published on August 26.
