In the wake of the Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, Ariana Grande's concert, and Finsbury Park attacks this year, the UK has seen, first-hand, the face of hope, bravery and resilience of strangers, as well as the rising tide of fear, loss and confusion.

Sadly, anti-Muslim hate public service TELL MAMA has found that racist incidents increased 530 per cent in the week following the suicide attack at Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester, and reported a 240 per cent increase in anti-Muslim hate in the seven-day period following the London Bridge attack last month.

London Bridge | ELLE UKpinterest
Getty Images

As a result of rising intolerance, Muslims often feel the need to conceal, hide or defend their religion when a terrorist hijacks their faith, especially following mass media coverage that can stir up fear and hatred towards the Muslim community.

That's why slam poet Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is arguing that it isn't Muslims who need to prove their humanity in the aftermath of terrorist attacks.

The 22-year-old's poem titled 'This Is Not A Humanising Poem' just won the poet second place at this year's Roundhouse poetry slam given its powerful message on tolerance, love and islamophobia.

youtubeView full post on Youtube

In a video of her performance, which has been viewed 1.5 million times on Facebook, Manzoor-Khan says:

This will not be a "Muslims are like us" poem. I refuse to be respectable. Instead, love us when we're lazy. Love us when we're poor. Love us in our back-to-back council estate, depressed and washed and weeping. Love us high as kites, unemployed, joy riding, time wasting, failing at school. Love us filthy, without the right colour passports, without the right-sounding English.Love us when we aren't athletes, when we don't bake cakes. When we don't offer our homes or free taxi rides after the event.If you need me to prove my humanity, I'm not the one that's not human.

She adds:

My mother texts me too after BBC news alerts. "Are you safe? Let me know you're home okay." And she means safe from the incident, yes, but also from the after effects.'

Prove your humanity by showing love, not hate.

Headshot of Katie O'Malley
Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.