Attacks on Muslim neighbors are gaining strength in my country and globally.

Now in New Zealand, one of the most peaceful countries in the world, at least 49 people are dead because of the color of their skin and the way they choose to worship.

I heard on the news about a young girl in a hijab in my country, who was targeted and attacked on the train home.

I keep thinking of this young girl, not much younger than my sister, near the age of other young Muslim friends. I keep thinking about how her very presence on public transport put her at risk. I think of manifestos written in the name of white nationalism and how hate and dehumanization has become enshrined in our public discourse.

We are failing our sisters and brothers with this rhetoric and with uninformed ignorance. I was speaking with a close relative the other day and mentioned I wanted to visit Morocco. He was quick to say: “Be careful over there. That’s a Muslim country, and Muslims don’t like Christians.”

I hurried to correct him, because I know this to be false. I once met a young man on a plane from Iran who told me if I knocked on any door in his hometown and asked for help, I would be treated like an honored guest. When a Canadian man arrived at an airport in Iraq, my Iraqi friends’ family came up to him, asked where he was from and if he needed a place to stay. They ended up hosting this stranger for weeks, sharing with him elaborate meals and taking him to the best sites in Northern Iraq.

The Arabic-speaking world, which does not just include Muslims, values hospitality immensely.

I know many people in my hometown and country have never met a person who practices Islam, defines themselves as Muslim or comes from a country belonging to the Arab League. They are inundated with stories and films portraying foreigners as terrorists. Terrorist attacks are given heavy coverage throughout the world (while terrorist attacks against people of color are grossly under-reported) and they are fed a diet of fear and vengeance. If you combine that with a sincere religious belief and sense of duty, you have a lethal combination.

When I tell people I am applying to jobs in the Middle East, they immediately shrink back, as if I have decided to chop my arm off, rather than move to some of the countries with the highest rankings of expatriate satisfaction in the world.

I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I tried to dialogue with a sweet, older woman from my parents’ church. I had grown up with this lady and helped her volunteer. But here she was on a public forum saying Muslims had no chance of being moral beings and that they wanted to infiltrate our country. However, Muslims have lived in the U.S. since 400 years ago and have been on the continent much longer than that.

Next, I told her about a Muslim family who I considered my own, who had taken me in when I was an intern in Fort Worth, who always asked me to spend the night or invited me over for tea and conversation.

But sharing anecdotes didn’t work either. A woman who I considered a friend had let pride and fear overcome common sense.

I do not know how to stop this cycle of hate, but I do know we must combat Islamophobia. It takes dismantling much larger systemic structures that affect us all. However, it also as simple as meeting your neighbors.

My thoughts are with the Islamic community in light of these senseless terrorist attacks. May we support you all in the U.S. and worldwide.