After terrorizing a community with a nearly three-week bombing spree which culminated in death by self-inflicted explosion, some might have been surprised to learn that the 23-year-old suspect — Mark Conditt — was a white male.

Whiteness is a legal construct that was specifically designed to reinforce our country’s Eurocentric racial caste system. It evolved over time — initially excluding Irish and Italian immigrants, for example. Regardless of the unscientific nature of the concept of whiteness (as well as race more broadly), it is still important to analyze the demographics of American violence. For instance, domestic (i.e. mainly white) terrorism has accounted for 73% of the terror attacks in the U.S. since September 11, 2001, and white men have committed more mass shootings than any other group. Regarding crime in general, “immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born and overall crime rates decline in areas where immigrants settle.”

Observing and pointing out such statistics can help combat the recent wave of xenophobia and racism that has re-emerged in American society.

Most prominent news sources have so far included some variation of the phrase “his motives are unknown,” but some details have been revealed regarding the background of the aforementioned serial bombing suspect. For instance, Conditt “took part in the conservative club called Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) as a teenager, which involved home-schooled youth studying the bible and being taught gun skills.”

Jeremiah Jensen, who attended church with Conditt, said, “I know faith was a serious thing for him.”

In addition to Conditt’s religious faith, the New York Times also noted:

“Mr. Conditt created a blog about his political views as a requirement for a political-science class he took at Austin Community College, according to McKenna McIntosh, a classmate of Mr. Conditt’s. In an author description, he described himself as a conservative. His posts include arguments against same-sex marriage and sex offender registries and a defense of the death penalty.”

At this point, we should recognize an uncomfortable reality: If the exact same information was released, except the suspect was from a Muslim family instead of a Christian one, the world of mainstream political punditry would have on its hands an open and shut case of “Islamist terrorism” — speculation surrounding “motives” would be unnecessary. I can guarantee you Fox News would be ranting about ISIS infiltrating our great nation, Steve Bannon would be shitting bricks, and Trump would be rage-tweeting about travel bans.

If violence against civilians plus religious faith equals terrorism in the case of a Muslim perpetrator, the same is true in the case of a Christian perpetrator. Let’s either stop having double standards or fully embrace our flagrant hypocrisy.

Instead of a terrorist, Conditt is being called a “very challenged young man.” As a default, can we start applying this label when acts of violence are committed by religious minorities and non-whites as well?