Subject: The View of Muslims and Arabs in America Before and After September 11th
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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:21:25 -0700

The View of
Muslims and Arabs in America Before and After September
11th

Webpage by
Heather Jolls, Anita Alaverdian ,Lindsay Adams,
and Roselle Silva

Facts About Muslims
and Arabs in America:

There
is much that is misunderstood about Arabs and Muslims in America.

Most
Arabs in America are not
Muslim.

Most
Muslims are not Arab.

Most
Arab Americans came from Lebanon and Syria

Most
Muslim Americans are African American or from South
Asia.

Many
of the early Arab immigrants assimilated well in American
society

Like
other ethnic groups in America, Arabs and Muslims have
produced many successful American whose ethnic background is merely an
afterthought.

The
income of Arab Americans is among the highest if any American ethnic
group-second only to that of Jewish Americans.

The
enormity of the horror, the Middle Eastern background of the terrorists, the
terrorists’ attempt to use religion to justify their acts have inevitably led
to episodes of discrimination against Arabs and Muslims.

An
Identity View:

In a
New York Times article appearing a week after the horror that befell America on
September 11, a Muslim woman described her dilemma this way: "I am so used to
thinking about myself as a New Yorker that it took me a few days to begin to see
myself as a stranger might: a Muslim woman, an outsider, perhaps an enemy of the
city. Before last week, I had thought of myself as a lawyer, a feminist, a wife,
a sister, a friend, a woman on the street. Now I begin to see myself as a brown
woman who bears a vague resemblance to the images of terrorists we see on
television and in the newspapers. I can only imagine how much more difficult it
is for men who look like Mohamed Atta or Osama bin
Laden."

(http://www.brookings.edu/press/REVIEW/winter2002/telhami.htm)

© Copyright 2002 The Brookings
Institution

With the
disassembling of the Taliban’s insidious reign in Afghanistan,

so came the dissolution of many of its fundamental laws.  Due to the

treatment of women during the Taliban’s rule, the world media soon

became aware of the restrictive laws and policies concerning women’s

rights, or lack there of.  Unfortunately, American society tends to
now
stereotype Arab-American women as veiled, docile, home bound victims,

and also, many times, automatically assume that they’re Muslim, when

studies have shown otherwise.

TALIBAN INFLUENCES:

During
the Taliban's reign, many invasions into the domestic lives of
its
citizens were made with the scriptures of the Koran as their
key.
Although highly misinterpreted, some would argue,
justifications were
made by the claim that Islamic law, or Sharia, applied to all aspects
of life, including the
home.  This allowed Taliban forces to use
surveillance and other
monitoring "strategies" to ensure citizen's
compliance with Sharia.  When addressing the laws put in place
for
women, a different approach was taken.  Laws such as the
restriction of
women's faces in public, the requirements of male
chaperones in public,
and the forbidding of women washing clothes in
their local rivers,
were put in place in support of
privatization.  These laws were now
justified by deeming the
acts as an intrusion of domesticity into the
public.
(The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian Private Shpere. Social
Research. Fall 03. Vol. 70, No.3)

BEFORE:

Muslim
feminism was on a rise.  Arab-American women were owning their

ethnicity, while questioning the religious influences within their

culture.  It has been found that the connections Arab-American
women
have with their ethnicity and religion are not determiners of their

identity.  Rather, they are components of several conditions
that
contribute to their identity, such as immigration status, marital

status, and the level of relevance connected to scripture.  In
fact,
the same study showed that one-third of
Arab-American women practice
Christianity and show the same results
as those of Muslim beliefs.
Through the eyes of feminism, many American
Muslim women have sought
ways of reforming the religion in order to sync
with their own
traditions or have looked to infuse other religions, such
as
Christianity, to accommodate them more appropriately.  But
some have
taken the option of  completely abandoning the religion, claiming
that
it does not promote the equality of all human
beings.

AFTER:

The
attack on the World Trade Centers brought more attention to the
small
population of Arab-American communities than they could have ever

dreamed.  As the dust settled, people's views remained
scattered.  A
new witch hunt was in effect and any means of
determining the
identification of the culprit would be
accepted.  Unfortunately, the
wonderfully decorated scarves, or
burquas or hijabs, became
the
easy-to-spot target for hatred.  For months following the
attack,
Muslim women were forced to hide in their homes to avoid
harassment and
violence and those that chose, or had to, go into public
would wear
their scarves in a manner that could not be recognized as being

affiliated with their religious beliefs.  Furthermore, when
responses
from the Islamic community were given concerning the devastating

events, the women of Islam were silenced.  (Lester
2003)

PATRIOTISM:

In the
name of patriotism, rash decisions have been made throughout the
country,
and at all levels of power.  It should be known, though, that
of
ALL the misinterpretations and misunderstandings that surround
September
11, 2001, many Muslim Americans celebrated their patriotism
by valuing a
country that allows anyone to observe any religion they so

choose.

Perceptions of
Muslims and Arabs by Americans due to Media Influences and Political
Agendas

Even
before 9/11 the views of Muslims and Middle Eastern people in the United
States has been skewed. It can be traced to
deliberate mythmaking by film and media, stereotyping as part of conscious
strategy of 'experts' and polemicists on the Middle East, the selling of a
foreign policy agenda by US government officials and groups seeking to affect
that agenda, and a public susceptible to images identifying the unwelcome
'other' in its midst.  (Akram)  Played as a scapegoat for all the
worlds’ problems Muslims are not the first person to be targeted for racial
profiling. Arabs are seen as,
“robed and turbaned, sinister and dangerous, engaged mainly in hijacking
airplanes and blowing up public buildings. It seems that the human race cannot
discriminate between a tiny minority of persons who may be objectionable and
the ethnic strain from which they spring. If the Italians have the Mafia, all
Italians are suspect; if the Jews have financiers, all Jews are part of an
international conspiracy; if the Arabs have fanatics, all Arabs are violent.”
(Akram)

After
9/11 Americans continued their harsh views and opinions about any person who
resembled the images that they media portrayed as the enemy.  Within days of the attacks every news
channel was flashing up images of what the hijackers looked like.  From these images Americans turned
their fear and hatred on to anyone who closely resembled these faces.

The
media only fueled the hatred that Americans felt towards all Arabs when it was
relatively a small group of people responsible for these attacks.  Since 9/11 the media has continued to
depict the Middle East as ungrateful for the help that the United States
has supposedly brought. Filled with deceptive lies and reporting of only half
of the story, “Little wonder then that 600,000 dead Iraqis need never be named
or even counted. Iraqis can even be portrayed as “ungrateful” for not
appreciating Western efforts to “help” them. This kind of interpretation has
permeated out of the academy into all areas of Western culture, from novels
and films to more overtly political culture.” (Strong)

Media
in the U.S. does not report
the facts about the war in Iraq.  It does not tell us every side of the
story because just like our history book it never has.  “America's media empire is
controlled by a tiny coterie of people. Chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission Michael Powell, the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell, has
proposed even further deregulation of the communication industry, which will
lead to even greater consolidation.” (Roy)
It is as if our leaders justify this racial hatred because as long as
American’s stay angry at a this scapegoat then their
anger will continue to give fuel an unjust war.

National
Security in a Post 9/11 World

National
security has been priority for Americans since the tragic events of September
11th six years ago.  It
has been the cause for fighting the “War on Terror” in the form of Islamic
extremists.  The aftermath of 9/11
has put us at war with Iraq
and Afghanistan, and has led
to the rise of racial intolerance towards Muslims within the United
States.
We are in a continuing cycle of violence that has cost us
profoundly.

The National Intelligence Council
(NIC) evaluates the issues of National Security.  The council works with the Intelligence
Community to predict the likelihood of future events and provide analytical
information regarding current threats to the U.S.  The main threat to the
United
States comes from Islamic Terrorist groups
according to the NIC.  Groups, such as al-Qaeda being a major threat.  Counterterrorism efforts since 9/11 have
debilitated terrorist groups with plans of attack to the U.S.  Improvements in National and Homeland
Security policies have made it more difficult for such groups to execute more
acts of terrorism with similar magnitude of 9/11.

According
to http://www.whitehouse.gov/,
U.S. government intelligence,
homeland security officials and law enforcement meet weekly with the White House
to review current threats and how to deal with them.  Law enforcement is constantly developing
ways to improve their efforts in response to heightened threat.  The White House claims
that America is safer but not
quite and our leaders, armed forces, and intelligence community continue to work
together to prevent terrorism in the United States of
America.

Things
were done differently in the pre-9/11 world.  The following is a comparison of a few
Homeland Security policies before and after 9/11 according to the Department of
Homeland Security (http://www.dhs.gov/).

Issue

Pre-9/11

Post-9/11

Risk-based
homeland security funds

National
Security funds were not appropriated based upon
risk

-
100% of Urban Area Security Initiative funds are awarded based on risk
& effectiveness.

-
DHS allocated the maximum amount statutorily possible based on risk and
effectiveness under the Homeland Security Grant Program.

Critical
Infrastructure Assessment

No
integrated national policy to identify threats

and
address vulnerabilities in critical
infrastructure.

-
DHS created the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), a
public/private partnership to identify and protect the Nation’s critical
infrastructure & key resources.

-
Improved security for high-risk chemical
facilities.

Private
sector preparedness

No
national standard for private sector emergency
preparedness

-
Private Sector Office created; increase in private sector participation in
federal training, exercises, and preparedness.

Airline
passenger pre-screening

Passenger
information collected from airlines on voluntary
basis

only
for international flights.  No
single list of suspected terrorists existed or was shared among
U.S.
agencies.

-
100% of passengers are now screened.

-
Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) implemented and supported by
Passenger Name Record (PNR) which looks for “identifiable…indicators of
risk”.

-
Terrorist
Screening Center (TSC) consolidated watch
lists and provides 24/7 support.

Airline
passenger explosive screening

Not
all passengers were screened for explosives.

-
1,200 Explosive Trace Detectors deployed at passenger
checkpoints

-
Nearly 4,000 metal detectors & x-ray machines installed at 440
airports across the country.

Checked
bag screening

Not
all checked bags were screened for explosives.

-
100% of checked baggage is now screened.

-
425 Canine explosive detection teams in more than 80
airports

-
1,400 Explosive Detection System (EDS) machines
deployed.

Soon after the shock and despair of
9/11, the anger felt by Americans was fueled by talk of retaliation toward the
enemy.  Clearly, we are talking
about Muslims and the Middle East.  For the violent acts of terror committed
by “Islamic fundamentalists”, the Arab-American community felt a backlash of
racial bigotry from their fellow Americans holding them accountable for world
terrorism.  Islam was perceived to
be a religion of evil and anyone who resembles the enemy is a potential
threat.  This portrayal of an entire
people affected much of the issues concerning National Security, especially
racial profiling among the airline industry.

Many Muslims feel isolated and are
afraid of being suspected of terrorism.
According to an article from USA TODAY, “Many Arab Muslims say their
community is turning in on itself – shying away from a society increasingly
inclined to equate Islam with terrorism” (Fear ‘as bad as after 9/11’, Hampson).  In
the hopes that things would become normal after 9/11 but the war overseas and
biased media coverage only made it more difficult to cope.  Some people went as far as changing
their names so they would not be compared to the terrorists in any
way.

For the purpose of National
Security, individuals must be screened throughout airports in the
U.S.  New policies have formed to improve our
airline industry and the safety of the homeland.  Since passenger jets were used to bring
down the twin towers in 2001, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA),
have developed screening techniques to minimize the chances of attack through
means of aircraft.  All passengers
are screened without judgments on race, religion, and ethnic origin.  Unfortunately this is not the case in
reality.  There have been many
lawsuits against the airline industry since 9/11 with claims of racial profiling
among people of Middle Eastern or Asian descent.  People are searched thoroughly and taken
in for questioning if suspected and sometimes it is related to their
appearance.  When passengers are in
the plane, they can be removed if other passengers feel uncomfortable.  For example, people who speak Arabic, or
bare a resemblance to what is portrayed as the present day terrorist.  CNN reports the cases of five passengers
who were prevented from boarding after 9/11.  “Among the plaintiffs is Michael Dasrath, a 32-year-old analyst for Morgan Stanley, who was
ejected from a Continental flight from Newark to
Tampa last New
Year’s eve.  Dasrath, a U.S. citizen of Indian heritage, told CNN that
his incident began with the complaint of a single, white female passenger who
had been observing him and two other men in their first class seats” (“Airlines
face post 9/11 racial profiling suits”, CNN).

Discrimination is not only in
airports, but exists in many forms.
The American media feeds us plenty of wartime propaganda keeping focus on
the “War on Terror” and it’s progress.  There are acts of violence, harassment,
and hate towards Middle Easterners.
The truth is, many victims from the 9/11 attacks
were of different heritage and included a good amount of Muslims and Middle
Eastern people.  Arab-Americans and
Muslims felt the same shock, grief, and anger as everyone else during 9/11, but
racial intolerance and media persuasion steered many Americans towards
supporting War abroad and allowing the rise of racial
narrow-mindedness.

“Americans seem unsympathetic.  Thirty-nine percent say they harbor at
least some prejudice against Muslims, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll
earlier this year.  The same
percentage favor requiring U.S. Muslims –citizens included– to carry special
IDs.  About a third say U.S. Muslims
sympathize with al-Qaeda” (Fear ‘as bad as after 9/11’, Hampson).

When the government began
investigating the attacks, many people of Middle Eastern and Asian decent were
detained and questioned.  Charges of
immigration violations were reasons for some of the people held, but according
to The Council of American-Islamic Relations, Muslims were facing civil rights
abuse and discrimination.  Soon
after the World Trade

Center attacks, 1,000 people were
apprehended and thousands more taken in for questioning and released.  “More than 500 cases of discrimination
and attacks unrelated to the terrorist attacks constituted a 43 percent increase
over the preceding year, when 366 were filed, said an annual survey that the
council released today.  One-fourth
of the complaints involved ethnic and religious profiling at airports and
workplaces, and nearly 20 percent involved government agencies, including the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, the F.B.I. and local law enforcement
authorities, the report said” (New York Times, 5/1/02).

Every day is a struggle for peace
and unity.  “United We Stand”
includes all Americans regardless of
who the current enemy is; National Security and all other aspects revolved
around the “War on Terror” included.
Cultural differences and religion may be at the root of so many wars in
time, but in present day society, blaming an entire people for the violent acts
of militants will not result in peace or help make America
safer.  As Americans we do not want
to live in paranoia and regret.  We
will continue to improve our policies for National Security, but we must honor
our civil rights values for all as a nation.

Resources

The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian
Private Shpere. Social
Research. Fall 03. Vol. 70,
No.3

Akram, Susan M., “The Aftermath of
September 11th 2001: The targeting of Arabs and Muslims in
America” Arab Studies
Quarterly Spring-Summer 2002

Roy,
Arundhati, “Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One,
Get One Free)” Presented in New York at The
Riverside
Church, Copyright 2003. http://www.csun.edu/faculty/sheena.malhotra/Roy/Roy%20%20Instant%20Mix%20Imperial%20Democracy.htm

Strong,
Ed, “The White Man’s Racism: “Muslim Extremist” 8/5/2007

http://edstrong.blog-city.com/the_white_mans_racism_muslim_extremists.htm

Telhami, Shibley.
“Arab and Muslim America.” Winter 2002 Vol 20 No.1 pp.14-15

http://www.brookings.edu/press/REVIEW/winter2002/telhami.htm