American Muslims and Arab Americans have been the victims of racism and prejudice.
Their loyalty to the United States has been questioned, and their religion vilified. Basically, since Sept. 11, Muslims and Arabs in America have felt under attack.
In the days following Sept. 11, President Bush did an excellent job of reaching out to the American Muslim community–he visited a mosque, invited Muslim leaders to the White House and stressed to the nation that we are not at war with Islam or Muslims.
Even the news media played their part with programs explaining Islam. However, the kindness and outreach did not last long. Attorney General Ashcroft then unleashed his attack on civil liberties, which has succeeded in alienating the American Muslim community.
Thousands of Muslims were rounded up and put into jail for no other reason than overstaying their visas and being from a Muslim country. American Muslims around the country were interviewed by the FBI merely because they were male and Muslim. Various Muslim charities and organizations (including one that has worked with the government to promote democracy in Muslim-majority countries) were raided and ransacked.
The American Muslim community needs to be utilized and supported, but instead Muslims here feel alienated and distrusted by the country they love. Many patriotic Muslims are upset about their treatment by the government.
In addition to the increased suspicion from the government, Islam itself is being blamed for terrorism and violence. Unfortunately Samuel P. Huntington’s ridiculous idea of the Clash of Civilizations is gaining credence.
I am not exactly sure why, since there is nothing innately hostile between Islam and the West–they are not mutually exclusive categories by any means. Commentators and editorialists wonder aloud why American Muslims and Muslim leaders have not loudly condemned the attack. Well, perhaps if they were listening they would have heard the voices of every single American Muslim organization in the U.S. and Muslim leaders around the world who released statements unequivocally condemning the violence of Sept. 11.
Then we have right-wingers, like Bill O’Reilly for instance, who states on his national talk show that all Muslims are the enemy because of their religion.
Or how about Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s evangelical son, who says ignorant things like Islam promotes terrorism and “is an evil and wicked religion.”
Even worse is the recent controversy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where incoming freshman were assigned to read a book about the Qur’an. A national outrage ensued since the students were being forced to learn about the “enemy religion.”
Various North Carolina legislators publicly said that students should not be forced to read an “evil” book like the Qur’an.
Imagine our politicians and leaders saying things like that today about the Torah or the Bible or proclaiming that all blacks are evil because of their skin color on national television. That is unimaginable. But attacking Muslims and Islam seems to be acceptable for some reason.
Although the majority of Americans are not anti-Muslim, prejudiced rhetoric and false reporting is appearing more and more in the media.
Every time the word terrorist is used, so is the word Muslim despite the fact that terrorist activities do not stem from religious motivations.
The roots of terrorism are multifaceted, yet the simplistic (and incorrect) reason given time and time again is religion. Over time this talk has been having an unfortunate effect on people causing them to link violence and terror with Islam instead of peace and tolerance.
American Muslims and Arab-Americans have had a rough year. Not only has this community had to deal with the pain of Sept. 11 and the deaths of many Muslims in the tragedy, but also with the suspicion of their government and the prejudice of other Americans.
After all, Arabs and Muslims are just as American as everyone else and do not deserve such racist, ignorant treatment.
Lubna Alam is a senior studying history.
