Diminishing American Pride Essay

In the airports, Muslim people became “the usual suspects”, were thoroughly searched and often interrogated. In her article, O’Connor claims that the lives of American Muslims changed forever, and the statement is hard to disagree with (“How 9/11 Changed These Muslim Americans’ Lives Forever.”) Those who had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, their children and grandchildren were sentenced to face racism, hate and violence.

In his documentative account, Zeitoun, altruistic author Dave Eggers illustrates the experiences of one muslim man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, and his struggle to respond to and cope with the trials facing society and nature following Hurricane Katrina. By describing the destructive flooding of his home and his neighborhood, Eggers establishes a desperate tone, as a race against time ensues to save what is left. As the physical landscape drastically changes, so do the very morals and establishments that hold society together. Eggers utilizes several rhetorical strategies to highlight the cruel and destructive stigmatization of Muslim Americans in a post 9-11 society, and that in times of calm or chaos, the common man is the same despite the labels

The “American dream,” a promise of the ability to turn your life from rags to riches if you try hard in the United States of America, has been the definition of what it means to be an American. But over time it the American dream has changed and its pledge perhaps more viable than ever. This is due to the simple fact that America as a nation has evolved over time and the core values which its people encompass are a reflection of the times. So as an American how do we define ourselves and our nation outside of the American dream? America has been known over time as a “big brother”- protector of mankind. Yet many of our citizens did not have equal rights until the 1960’s and it took the fourteenth amendment to guarantee equal protection

With over 20,000 Muslim physicians in America, you are more likely to be saved by a Muslim doctor after a terrorist attack, than to be hurt or killed by a Muslim terrorist (Elgamal). Within award winning author, Dave Eggers’, non-fiction account of Zeitoun, he deconstructs one man’s struggle during a horrendous natural disaster that had hit New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005. Eggers highlights the injustices of the legal system during Hurricane Katrina, after the 9/11 atrocities, that imposed bigotry, islamophobia, and discrimination against the Zeitoun family. Through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos, he adopts an optimistic, yet indignant tone to inform the audience of America’s impurities and assist the fight against the

The “mold of a Muslim post 9/11 was anyone fitting the description of a Muslim, which was wearing a hijab for women and wearing a turban for men. If you went to a mosque, which was the Muslim house of worship, you were considered a Muslim. Anyone who fit that “mold” had a red flag put on them. For example, Rasha and her family were arrested and detained by the FBI in the middle of the night, “because they were being investigated for possible terrorism connections” (21). Due to the heightened level of security after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 committed by Muslim extremist; this family was targeted because of their religious beliefs. Ironically, the Muslim extremism that the terrorists of 9/11 depicted was a direct contrast of the true core Muslim values of honesty and compassion that Muslims are taught in their families. For instance, when she was young, Rasha’s parents taught her “the simple values of honesty, compassion and protecting her honor” (17). Readers can see that Rasha’s family valued their Muslim heritage and brought her up to value them as

Defining what really is to be an American does not sound as easy as it seem. It will always be complex process. As immigration continues to fuel the growth of the population of our nation, racial and ethnic gap increase and evolve along with it. Racial and ethnic identities become more and more convoluted and difficult to understand. Race and ethnicity continue to intermingle and push a cultural shift in the US– a shift that plays a significant role in redefining America in a day-to-day basis.

In the novel, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, the main character, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, is an immigrant of Syria who stays in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and is arrested due to the suspicion of looting, but really is arrested because of his race and how he looks. Zeitoun’s faith and loyalty to his community and home is tested through the many obstacles of Hurricane Katrina and including his religion, racism, and his very own dignity. The author, Dave Eggers who is also the speaker in novel, proves all examples of Zeitoun’s challenges credibly in the text.

David Eggers, in Zeitoun, shows a story of a Muslim American family living through many challenges. After 9/11 Muslim families, like the Zeitouns, face many problems living in America. Eggers wants to inform other Americans on the situation of Muslim living in the United States, present day. People who are uneducated about the Muslim religion need to be informed on how similar lives are of other people all around the United States. These people throw out stereotypes and aim judgments wrongly at the Zeitoun family. Unjust treatment of the Zeitoun family is a cause of assuming and stereotypes. In this biography, Eggers helps inform his readers about

When the Hurricane was coming his family left for a safer area, but Zeitoun wanted to stay with his house because he worked hard to get where he was. Zeitoun wanted to try to protect his house in anyway possible. After all the damage was done and New Orleans was submerged in water and nearly completely destroyed, Abdulrahman Zeitoun was asked by his wife to leave the area and go to a safer place. But Zeitoun being the person he is, decided to stay and to help out anyway possible. He canoed around helping those who needed it.

Americans have not only defined themselves by their religious, ethnic and racial identity, but also by their individual freedom and common values. America has become a nation where its people can fight for what they believe in. Our founding fathers have formed America to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. Being apart of the American culture and living on the land founded by our leaders specifies the meaning of the American Identity.

Therefore, following 9/11 the fight for rights for Muslim women increased greatly. More organizations appeared in the Middle East and more women have published stories of what they lived through in the Middle East (p25/87). Not only has this cause grown since 9/11, it has only taken on more importance for importance for the American population with activists being booked for speaking engagements, earning awards, and some even receiving honorary doctorate degrees (p96). The media has always taken on this view of Middle Eastern society. For example, the cover story for the August 2010 edition of TIME magazine was titled, “What happens if we leave Afghanistan?” inferring that ground troops are protecting the Afghani women (p27). In April of 2011, a German human rights campaign published a poster that shows a road lined with blue and black trash bags with a Muslim dressed in full blue cover sitting among the trash bags (p9). The picture is captioned with the words, “Oppressed Women are easily overlooked. Please support us in the fight for their rights.” (p9). This perspective, that Muslim women, are fragile beings that need Americans to support has plagued much of American society in recent

Zeitoun, a novel by Dave Eggers, is a true story about a family who struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

American identity has been created by many events throughout the course of history. This country was founded on the clashing and mixing of many different cultures and lifestyles. One of the most important periods of time for this country was during the period of conflict between Americans and Native Americans over land rights. Americans had an idea of manifest destiny and that this land was theirs for the taking. The Americans were going to walk through anyone who opposed them in this quest for land. The treatment of the Indians during this time period was harsh, cruel, and violent to say the least. It is in this treatment that Americans came to view the Indians as a ?racialized other? and

Today, Islam is seen as a violent religion, the mention of Muslims anywhere strike fear into people. But yet there are more Muslim doctors, writers, engineers, scientist, thriving in first world countries than anyone else. Muslim people lack the ability to have their own identity due to the medias interpretation of them. It’s even more for Muslim women because they will forever be painted as Oppressed. In American Muslim Women by Jamillah Karim, the author gathers information about barriers Muslim women face living in Chicago and Atlanta, either through segregations, discrimination, and gender roles. The author mentions how people of the same ethnic background tend to stay together, instead of branching outside or their race, and how Muslim women are treated like underdogs when they interact with Muslim men in the mosque, at work, and etc. People that normally identify with the same race, religion, and ethnicity tend to stay together. This reading discussed “boundaries” that women face in the mosque and how they are bound to the back, while men are privileged with front row seats, closer to the Unman. The reason could be that these women that

September 11th holds many hard and upset feelings around the world today. The harsh actions of Muslim extremists unfortunately completely changed the way Muslims are treated, especially in the United States. These events, exacerbated islamophobia. Unfortunately, “the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, connect Muslims and Islam to terrorism within the geographical borders of the United States.” (Byng) Although it has been over a decade since the attack, many still feel racist and discriminatory attitudes towards Muslims. Muslims are the targeted minority in the United States, “the 9/11 terrorist attacks shifted the social and political context for Muslims in the United States. Terrorism within the geographical borders of the United States carried out by Muslims places an identity at the center of national and global politics.” (Byng) The blame of the horrible terrorist attacks, rather than be placed on terrorists or religious extremist, has been placed on Islam in America. After September 11th, hate crimes towards Muslims skyrocketed, “the most dramatic change noted by the report was a more than 1,600 percent increase in reported hate crimes against Muslims -- a jump from 28 hate incidents in 2000 to 481 last year.”