Craig Stephen Hicks shot three Muslim college students in their home, execution style in Chapel Hill, N.C. instilling fear amongst Muslim-Americans across this country.

So do I get to call Hicks a terrorist?

The victims, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Muhammed, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19 represent many other Muslim-Americans like myself. They represent our lifestyle, identity and faith. They embodied the dream that many young Muslim-Americans had after 9/11; to excel in academics, improve the community and be the sensible Muslim that we wish the media could see. The dream came with the hope that if we did just that, then Americans would see beyond Al-Qaeda and ISIS and realize that we too condemn such violence.

But then a tragedy like this happens and the media dismisses the killer as a man obsessed with parking. They refuse to call it a hate crime. If they did, they’d have to name themselves as the root cause for having influenced such Islamaphobia. They refuse to call Hicks a terrorist because, well, it seems such extremism only applies when the killer is Muslim. The media refuses to dehumanize Hicks and call him exactly what he is: Atheist Terrorist.

Imagine how different the media coverage would’ve been if the situation were reversed and a Muslim man had shot three non-Muslim students. Nobody would have cared if it were over a parking dispute. The media would rush to dig through the killer’s history, background, family, and anything else that could connect the Muslim to a terrorist organization. His religion would have been brought to the forefront of every single debate about the incident. World leaders would rally together in support of the victims, just as they did for the victims of Charlie Hebdo.

And once again, I, as well as other Muslim-Americans, would be left having to defend our faith and having to explain to people how Muslims have no agenda to bringing harm. But still, the media will portray Islam as something violent.

But that isn’t even the most frustrating part. The Chapel Hill shooting happened to real people living peaceful lives with bright futures whose work focused on bringing excellence to their community. In this case, the news media calls this triple-murder a parking dispute, and a killer who has the courtesy of being called a “troublemaker” instead of a “terrorist.”

Why does the media have a hard time acknowledging that the motive behind this murder was anything other than pure hatred?

It makes me wonder if Muslims will ever be accepted as Americans. The more the media portrays a community as outsiders, the more they risk dehumanizing them. Three young lives are gone and news outlets want to tell educated Americans it was due to a dispute over a parking spot. Is the war on terror just a big parking dispute? This is an epidemic called ignorance and hate. People must educate themselves on stereotypes and discrimination in order to recognize the value of human lives and learn to get rid of the link between Islam and terrorism.

There is no extreme violent ideology within Islam. Individual criminals have perverted a religion of peace by calling themselves Muslim and misquoting the Holy Quran when in fact the religion they practice and preach is far from Islamic. Muslim faith has been hijacked not only by extremists, but also by the media who continues to propagate hate and untrue stereotypes.

Deah was an active member of United Muslim Relief’s (UMR) dental relief team, taking part in a dental relief mission to Palestine that treated children with special needs. Razan was an officer for UMR triangle where she organized monthly feedings for the homeless in downtown Raleigh, N.C. Razan’s father, Dr. Mohammed Abu-Salha, who has a psychiatry practice in Clayton, N.C. said their death was, “execution style…a bullet in every head.”

Every time a tragedy happens, followers of Islam pray, “Please don’t let it be a Muslim,” because we are sick and tired of having to defend ourselves. Now tell me, who is the real terrorist?