A group of Muslim communities in the U.S. has raised more than $55,000 for the families of victims of San Bernardino shooting that left 14 dead and 17 wounded, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.
The collective initiative described the attack as a "deplorable act of violence" and said in a statement that they want to "respond to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action."
The collective said all fundraising proceeds will be used to help the short-term needs of the families of the victims, such as funeral expenses. Depending on the amount collected, long-term expenses or possibly donations to the area where the incident took place may be subject to a change in policy. The group called on all American Muslims, mosques, leaders and groups to promote the initiative.
According to Al Jazeera, the project was endorsed by many Muslims groups, including the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
One of the initiators of the fundraising, Faisal Qazi told Al Jazeera that the aim of the fund is not to prevent anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of the event, but "to show solidarity with the victims of families." He added that the fund was launched before "the name of the assailant was announced and before we knew a Muslim was allegedly involved."
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama vowed Sunday that America would destroy DAESH and hunt down its followers at home and abroad, in a rare address from the Oval Office to a jittery nation. Facing questions about his leadership and strategy, Obama harnessed the highest trappings of U.S. power to calm a country rattled by a rampage in California that killed 14 people.
"After so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure," Obama said in a solemn speech, adding that the San Bernardino massacre was evidence of an "evolving" and increasingly homegrown threat. As a father of two daughters, Obama said, he could imagine himself or his kin in San Bernardino or in Paris, where scores of people were killed last month in attacks claimed by DAESH. "Here's what I want you to know," he said. "The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy DAESH and any other organization that tries to harm us," he said. Obama urged Muslims in America and around the world to "decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like DAESH and al-Qaida promote."
He added that the extremist group does not represent Islam. "We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam," he said, facing down some of his shrillest critics who have called for a registry of Muslim-Americans. "DAESH does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers. Part of a cult of death," he said. "If we're to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies rather than push them away through suspicion and hate."
