A professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has taken to Twitter to place blame on mainstream media — such as Fox News and the 2014 film “American Sniper” — for breeding the type of racist thinking that led Dylann Roof to carry out the shooting at a Charleston, S.C. church last month.
Dr. Faheem Younus is a medical professor at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine who doubles as a blogger for Muslim-American identity and the Middle East with the online username: “Muslimerican.” Additionally, Younus serves on the board for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the leading Islamic organization that rejects all forms of terrorism.
Younus tweeted earlier in June that the racist ideology advocated by Charleston shooter Dylann Roof was specifically “promoted” by Fox News.
The ideology of racism promoted by the @FoxNews and Co. breeds the terrorists who commit #CharlestonShooting https://t.co/G9FyLm5cP5
— Muslimerican (@FaheemYounus) June 18, 2015
However, despite his belief that the international news network breeds racist murderers, Younus has been a recurring contributor on Fox News to discuss issues pertaining to American Muslims and the Middle East.
Younus has authored various articles for Fox about the Muslim identity and has been interviewed on different segments numerous times.
“Responding to the call ‘Where are the moderate Muslims?’ Younus has represented Islam on major cable TV channels such as FOX,” says Younus’ Muslimerica biography. “He is [also] a frequent guest on Sean Hannity.”
In an email to The Daily Caller, Younus elaborated on his tweet by redirecting us to Media Matters — a website that is in accordance with Younus’ views and features various op-eds on Fox News and its contributors’ “long history of race-baiting.”
One occurrence that was sited to show how Fox spreads “racist ideology” was an episode of Happening Now with Fox contributor and Daily Caller CEO Tucker Carlson.
Carlson was invited to speak on the 2008 controversy in which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated that Obama, as a black presidential candidate, was set up to win because he is “light-skinned” and speaks “with no Negro dialect.”
And it is alleged that Carlson’s response to Reid’s statement on Obama contributed to, in the opinion of Media Matters and Younus, this long tradition of racist creed on Fox News.
Media Matters explained their grievance: “Carlson said that he was ‘amazed by the number of Democrats, though, you hear saying we support Reid because he supports civil rights — as if his opponents don’t support civil rights, [everybody’s for civil rights’]. Carlson then claimed that ‘what they’re saying is he’s for racial set-asides, therefore, given that pay-off, he gets a pass when he uses the phrase ‘negro dialect.””
In addition to Fox, Younus also listed the film “American Sniper” as a culprit in cultivating shooters such as Dylann Roof.
Stop glorifying mass murderers as heroes and it may prevent the next #CharlestonShooting #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/14J0jr1LQW
— Muslimerican (@FaheemYounus) June 18, 2015
“American Sniper” is the biographical film about Chris Kyle, a U.S. Navy SEAL who saved countless innocent lives during his 4 tours in Iraq. As a sniper, Kyle was ordered to eliminate individual jihadists who posed a direct terrorism threat to the United States and those around them.
When asked to elaborate on this statement, Younus sited an op-ed from The Guardian that condemns “the US right wing” for misunderstanding director Clint Eastwood’s intentions with the film and for revering Chris Kyle as a hero.
“Much of the US right wing appears to have seized upon ‘American Sniper’ with…shallow comprehension — treating it with the same unconsidered, rah-rah reverence that they would the national anthem or the flag itself,” Lindy West of The Guardian wrote. “[Eastwood]…makes a hero out of Kyle – who, bare minimum, was a racist who took pleasure in dehumanising and killing brown people.”
‘American Sniper’ was inspired by Chris Kyle’s detailed autobiography about his experiences as a sniper overseas and his struggle to move on after returning home.
Some of Younus’ other tweets about the racist ideology of Fox News and ‘American Sniper’ include…
If @FoxNews is not racist then RT that this guy who said "Kill a Muslim" is a JERK too. #CharlestonShooting pic.twitter.com/TIbjMVoxUr
— Muslimerican (@FaheemYounus) June 20, 2015
But we bestowed Oscars to #ZeroDark30 and #AmericanSniper despite their lies. #Islamophobia #DoubleStandards pic.twitter.com/x5LOMhbYs8
— Muslimerican (@FaheemYounus) June 10, 2015
This terrorist #CharlestonShooting is predictably White, called a "gunman" by the media & has no mention of his faith http://t.co/wWh2iYaWij
— Muslimerican (@FaheemYounus) June 18, 2015
“In the end, it’s the wearer of the shoe who knows where the shoe bites,” Younus said in a statement to The Daily Caller. “We Americans expect the media to serve as the fourth pillar of our democracy. A democracy where the minorities are protected.”
Younus has also stated that his tweets blaming Fox News and other media for Charleston are not representative of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, but of his personal opinion.