For all of the suffering Americans have had to endure with COVID-19, economic depravation, racial injustice and white supremacist violence, it is easy to forget that radical Islamic terrorism still exists in the world.
But it is very much front and center in France where a history teacher in a Paris suburb was beheaded by a man who shouted "Allahu Akbar!!!" The perpetrator was later shot and killed by French authorities. He has not been identified, but is described as an 18-year old Russian born Chechen Muslim. For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the attack as an "Islamist terrorist attack."
The teacher had been engaging his students in civics and had been discussing recent French history surrounding the caricatures of Muhammad which led to the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015. Some parents objected to the lessons although the teacher gave students the choice of opting out given the subject matter. What connection the perpetrator had to either the teacher or students isn't clear. What is clear is that in the perpetrator's mind even showing the images of Muhammad in an education and historical context much less having a discussion about what happened at Charlie Hebdo warranted murder and terror to cease all discussion.
Naturally, I take the view that most Muslims abhor violence and manage to go through life without taking the life of another. But there remains a critical mass of the Muslim community (particularly in France) who organize themselves on a grand scale (i.e. 9/11, the Boston Marathon attacks or the Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015) or are individually radicalized online in such a way as they are willing kill those who do not believe as they do and intimidate the population at large.
In America, Islamist terrorism has taken a back seat to white supremacist terrorism in recent years. But just because it has taken a back seat does not mean it is in the rearview mirror.
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