This week America has seen an enormous tragedy in the city of Orlando, Florida. It truly sickens me how someone could willingly take so many lives of innocent strangers, specifically because of who they are. My thoughts and sympathy go out to everyone who was murdered and the families of those who have been lost, but my article is going to focus on another side of the tragedy.

After the incident occurred we discovered the shooter was part of the Islamic state. He also pledged his allegiance to ISIS before he was shot by police. When incidences such as these happen people are quick to send hatred toward the entire Islamic or Muslim population, which is unfair judgement.

We become angered at the fact the shooting occurred because of hatred toward a group of people so we should not do the same thing the attacker has done, which is judging an entire group of people. Not all Islamic or Muslim citizens are terrorists in fact most of them are not. We need to end the cycle of hate and quit generalizing groups of people.

This concept is one of the reasons I cannot stand Donald Trump. As soon as I saw the news report I thought about how Trump would react, probably by shouting about banning Muslims and kicking them out of our country which enrages me. He uses these terrible tragedies to his advantage just to gain popularity out of the people’s fear and insecurities. People become frightened when attacks happen and are willing to do radical things to try and protect themselves, and Donald uses people’s insecurities against them. Basically he is using all of you and exploiting tragedies. He does not care about the people, all he cares about is winning and money.

I have met several Muslim citizens who are caring and considerate people who do not deserve the hatred they receive, just like any other minority group. Haven’t we learned to not judge a book by its cover? It is okay to be guarded and try and protect yourself but it is not okay to project hatred on someone because of their religion or culture. We cannot say we will “kick all of these people out of the country” or be okay with Trump trying to claim he will make it happen. It is not okay to patronize an entire group of citizens.