“We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam.”-President Barack Obama (Samari 1920-1925). Obama’s wise words capture the ideal perspective we should have on the interracial conflict of the United States. Immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks, 60% of Americans felt they had critical attitudes towards Muslims (Samari 1920-1925). Since then, believers of Islam have been the victims of profiling. People of the United States should not participate in the racial discrimination of Muslims. These prejudices reflect the inaccurate assumption that religion defines character, is an ineffective counterterrorism strategy, shows racism in society, and separates the country’s unity.
Even so, some Americans view profiling as a safety precaution, and they believe Islam discrimination justifies the fear of terrorism. Many simply believe Muslims are terrorists that intend harm and kill those opposing their religion. When asked about the intentions of Islam, 28% of
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Although this approach minimizes the amount of airplane hijacking, it creates additional crime in forms such as assassinations and hostage-taking occurrences (Harcourt). As Bernard Harcourt, an American critical political theorist, explains, “Racial profiling in the context of counterterrorism measures may increase the detection of terrorist attacks in the short term but create the possibility of dangerous substitutions in the long run.” The profiling takes away from the rights of the Muslims and makes them subject to discrimination. Since the September 11th terrorist attacks, assaults against Muslims increased by 5 times. These hate crimes include vandalization of mosques and harassment in public places (Samari 1920-1925). America 's racist nature leads to violence towards those different from
The attitudes toward Muslims today have not changed significantly since September 11, 2001. Any Muslim person; man, woman, or child is automatically suspect to instigate pandemonium, based strictly on their appearance and faith. Regardless of any evidence, reasoning, or perspective to the contrary, Muslims are seen as an enemy to United States citizens. The events of 9/11 left Muslim Americans unceremoniously lacking any respect from U.S. citizens regardless of any affiliation with Al-Qaida. We assess Muslim people with a common image of terror. We see the turban or hijab and assume a terrorist is hidden within its folds. Our mentalities inevitably come to a paralyzing halt, and we can never see through the fabric of the religious garments. When we see any one of these people, one person comes to mind, and that is the person who attacked our country. Today, in our nations cities and towns these arrogances still exist forcefully. Muslim people are still profoundly victimized and discriminated against by the means of assumption and negative mental sets. In the novel Zeitoun, author Dave Eggers takes time to assess the spitefulness encountered by Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun, along with narrating the family’s endeavors with hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun presents racial differences in America, primarily in New Orleans, by discussing how they are created and the ways in which they exist today.
On September 11, 2001, since the terrorist attacks, many American Muslims have been stereotyped negatively in the United States. Salma, a Muslim woman, says that the way Muslims have been recognized in the media has played a big role in the antagonisms directed to her. “I don’t know how many time I heard my classmates accuse me of being al-Qaeda or a terrorist” (Mayton 2013). Salma, along with other Muslims, even after a decade, are still struggling with trying to find their “American” and “Islamic” identities, while facing verbal attacks for their ethnicity. Too often, the general Muslin population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
Race and religion are two concepts in American culture that can really tie people together, or clearly separate them apart. A group forged by strong common roots in both race and religion can be a powerful societal force, if it wants to be. The Nation of Islam is a small but growing religion in America that has become somewhat of a social movement because of its strong and radical ideas on race. In this paper, I will try to explore the beliefs of the Nation of Islam, and the ramifications it could and has had on racial relations in America. The Nation of Islam, or NOI, is a relatively new religion. The first temple of Islam was established in Detroit by Master Fard Muhammed in 1930. Much of the theology was based on the simple facts that: "Allah is god, the white man is the devil, and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic black people, the cream of the earth."(1) And, in accordance with their bizarre view of creation, involving a mad scientist creating the white race from the black race, the twentieth century represents the time for black people to regain their rightful position as god¹s chosen people. (1) The Nation of Islam was spawned from Orthodox Islam, an age-old religion. However, Orthodox Islam has openly denounced the NOI as a heretic sect for three main reasons: the NOI¹s rejection of the belief in an afterlife, its tendency to view human leaders as deified figures, and its strong racist attitudes. (2) For a brief time, during the seventies, Wallace Deen Muhammed became the leader of the NOI and tried to take it in a new direction, more conforming to "true Islamic beliefs." This group is now called the American Muslim Mission and still exists in small numbers today. (1) ...
... another post 9/11. Furthermore, through both Amaney Jamal excerpt Civil Liberties and the Otherization of Arab and Muslim Americans (chapter four), and Nadine Naber excerpt Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations (Introduction), we see just how this clash came about pre and post 9/11. That while the aftermath of 9/11 saw the rise in the racialization of Muslim and Arab Americans, we must not forget that these groups of people were not so much invisible due to the fact that America (i.e. “dominant mainstream” (Jamal 119)) has always viewed those they deem as “other” (i.e. minority) as inferior. Due to this framework, they have racialized any group of people that are not considered American as “other.” However (as stated) following an event like 9/11, the racialization of Muslims and Arabs Americans became perpetuated more so; and at an even more dangerous level.
Targets of suspicion: the impact of post-9/11 policies on Muslims, Arabs and South Asians in the US. (2004, May 1). Retrieved from http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/targets-suspicion-impact-post-911-policies-muslims-arabs-and-south-asians-us
As the racial targeting, hate-crime increased, racial discrimination bullying, becoming victims of prejudice, and having unequal publicity because of bias racial after 9/11 towards the Islam-Americans. It was often proven how Islam-Americans have become pariahs in all religion that are in the categories of Islam, because of the similarity in the image that a Sikh-American or Muslim-American holds. However this bias view in society towards the Islamic-American is certainly wrong because it has created an unfair environment in communities for them which leads them to become and feel pariahs, as it should be change by speaking up, changing the way we socialize around the topic as it may spread.
Siggins, P. (2002). Racial Profiling in an Age of Terrorism. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved July 29, 2010 from: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/profiling.html
One of the foremost not-so-shocking consequences that have unusually become a trend in today’s society as a result of the events of September 11th is the issue of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the unjust method used by certain police officials to gather suspects for a variety of crimes; it is used to target certain individuals based on race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion (“Racial Profiling”). Citizens and authorities alike have developed an attitude towards people from the Middle East. When a person sees a Middle Eastern male enter a plane before it takes flight, people usually began to feel extreme paranoia. Since we are assuming that the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 were both done by the same nationality, citizens have established the mindset that all Middle Eastern individuals are inevitably terrorists. It is true that both masterminds for each of the attacks were of Middle Eastern descent. However, the paranoia is not rational; it is only rooted in an irrational fear birthed out of ignorance. The only conclusion th...
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
After 9/11 2001 the FBI reported a 1700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans between 2000 to 2001. After 9/11 Muslims Americans had faced a rise in negative stereotypes shown by the larger society, more than any other immigrant group. Middle Eastern Muslims or anyone with physical resemblance to the stereotypical Muslims were at risk of hatred and unkindness from people of other cultures. Research focusing on Islamophobia which is fear or hatred towards Muslims, a survey was taken on the United Kingdom showed that discrimination against Muslims has increased in recent years. discrimination towards Muslims was even before September 11 due to the media has been biased because the media has shown Muslims as intolerant and violent. The attacks of Muslims has worsen and the general attitude the public have has gone ordinary gone to the Muslims. Islamophobia can change a person because fear we have changes how we do things and living in fear and not in peace. The fear we have has us around it’s claw keeping us from doing other things because we fear that a Muslim might hurt us. The hatred and fear towards other people who might not hurt us at all might change the future in which this world lives in. People no matter what want to protect the country and at no price will upgrade the military to do
Muslim children face high level of discrimination at their schools as they are welcomed with negative comments about their religion by the children of other religions. Though abnormal but normally Muslim students are labeled as Terrorists and they are often verbally coerced and mocked to migrate back to their native countries. The overall conclusion can be drawn as the study that United States suffered a lot during the attacks of 9/11 but the ones who are still facing the aftermath of that incident are the Muslims around the globe and especially those present in United States. Various reasons other than 9/11 attacks behind Muslim stigmatization around globe include stereotyping against Muslims in terms of non-flexibility, uncommon culture, simple life style and aggressive behavior.
“The political, social, and legal pressure on Muslim communities in the name of “national security” has created a new form of American legal exceptionalism” (Elver 139). Since Arab immigrants where viewed as potential terrorist threats they were legally placed under surveillance as they could be a “national security threat” (Elver 139). The government started ‘taking suspected terrorists in violation of the law off the streets and [kept] them locked up” (Elver 140). These individuals who where taken into custody were targeted because the government was going after “Muslim-looking” people.” (Elver 144). By incarcerating Arab immigrants, the United States government as well as some citizens, thought they would be safe from terrorism. A few weeks following the attack on the Twin Towers, there was a survey that found Americans believed “Arab and Muslim Americans should be profiled and targeted for surveillance and interrogation in the name of national security” (Cook 3).
Today, terrorism faces worldwide attention, and it is assumed that terrorists who wish to harm the United States are concentrated in the Middle East or in countries with a predominate Muslim population such as Indonesia. The United States government has begun to develop strategies for detecting and apprehending terrorists. One of the most popular methods is racial profiling, using race and ethnicity as the main criteria for apprehending and detaining suspects. The United States has a large Arab-American and Muslim population; the question of whether the federal government should take race into account as the main factor when profiling for possible terrorists requires a balancing of moral, legal, equality, and liberty values, all values which our country was founded upon.
According to the Encarta Dictionary, Racial Profiling is the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups without probable cause. Since the September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center, racial profiling has been the temporary tactic used to stop terrorism. After more than ten years since implementing this practice, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has made little progress. Some American citizens are still skeptical of Middle Eastern and Muslim people even though TSA has caught no terrorists through racial profiling. Although racial profiling has the potential to catch terrorists, it should not be used because racial profiling can justify terrorist acts, it will not improve airport and airline security, and it is discrimination.
...lim violence mentioned in class lectures include a taxi cab driver in NYC who identified himself as a Muslim and was shot dead by the passenger, four pieces of construction equipment was destroyed at a future mosque site in Tennessee also in Tennessee, a pipe bomb went off in a mosque in Jacksonville killing somewhere around 60 people. This is only a few example of the many hate crimes committed against Muslims in the United States. Muslims not only face hate crimes in the U.S., but all over the world today which is particularly disturbing in the U.S. which has a Constitution that states all citizens are free to practice their own religion, but clearly as of late, this is not true for Muslim Americans.