Discrimination Against Muslims

After the attack, hate crimes in the United States towards Muslim communities have increased by 1,600 percent from 28 hate crimes in 2000 to 481 in 2001 (Disha, Cavendish, King, 21-22). From the research done by Disha, Cavendish and King, with the data acquired from FBI, it is

The author further mentions the potential threat that arises from the constant hatred posed on Muslims in America and vice versa. The youth have found themselves with their identity in attack and have been forced to political Islam so they can relate to it and feel they are part of something that unites themselves with other Muslims on a common

One of the most widely discussed issues in the U.S. Muslim community is the negative image of Islam in the American media, an issue that was cause for concern even before 9/11. While appeals to the media for accuracy and fairness continue, newspaper headlines regularly print the words “Islam” and “Muslim” next to words like “fanatic,” “fundamentalist,” “militant,” “terrorist” and “violence.” Uses of the term “jihad” in television programs

There are times in which a person's ethnicity could conflict with their nationality, such as when as the population of a nation racially abuses a certain ethnic group. The terrorist attacks on Paris have led to hate crimes against Muslims in America. This racism contributes to the decomposition of Muslim nationality in America and elsewhere in the world.

Violence has sadly become a large part of our society, as have hate crimes. Since the Paris attacks, there has been a huge incline of hate crimes against Muslims Americans and mosques. “The spike includes assaults on hijab-wearing students; arsons and vandalism at mosques at mosques; and shootings and death threats at Islamic-owned businesses […]” (Lichtblau). These attacks are bitter and cruel, but it is not the end of what has recently been happening to Muslims . This past December, there were multiple accounts of hate crimes against Muslims. On December 5th/6th, “A Muslim woman wearing a hijab said a man cut her off and threw stones at her car while she was driving away from a mosque…” (MacNeal). On December 10th, “A Muslim family in Plano, Texas, said that they had the windows on their home smashed two days in a row -- just six weeks after they moved to the area…” (MacNeal). Not only is this a horrible crime, but someone, maybe a child, could have been by that window. This act could have been fatal, and it shows how evil some people are. On December 13, two southern California mosques were vandalized. In the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Baitus-Salaam Mosque located in Hawthorne, California, a plastic replica of a hand grenade was found. This is a very serious way of threatening people, and about the same level of threat as a phone call saying someone was going to come in with a gun and kill people. To add to this, the fence surrounding the mosque of the Islamic Center of Hawthorne had the word “Jesus” spray-painted on it (MacNeal). Not only was this vandalization, but it took away someone’s right to religious freedom and knowing there was somewhere to pray without being judged, stereotyped, told it was wrong, or told they should be a different religion. Lastly, in “2013 Hate Crime Statistics” the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been the center of much attention throughout modern history, whether it be about the polygamists, the Book of Mormon, or Joseph Smith seeing God, or the restored priesthood. Though the church is known to have these forms of controversies, we see through history that no organization or group is free from mistakes and criticism. Throughout history in general, there has always been some sort of religious contention around the globe. A large point of contention then and even now is the factor of race in religion and the certain rules and restrictions implemented into the religion regarding race.

In the Name of Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and the Nation of Islam. By Mattias Gardell, Duke University Press Durham

If we were to measure animosity towards Muslim's based off reported hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. then no, it has not. A hate-crime research group at California State University averages "suspected hate crimes against Muslims in the United States” at 12.6 per month. The rate tripled to 38 attacks the month following the attack in Paris. The article was published in Dec. 2015; however, I'm reasonably confident the data began to revert back towards the mean. In addition, it is worth noting that the mean is being generous to outliers. Now, the attacks may not be as high as those in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 2011, which was reported in the hundreds; nonetheless, they are at the highest level since then.

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.”

The agonizing terrorist attacks of September 9th, 2001 left the country in emotional distress. The United States of America decided to prepare for tragic attacks like this and reevaluated its immigration and foreign policies, the citizens of the US also became united and stronger from these attacks. This ideology that the US has become more united after an attack that killed nearly 3,000 people has become mainstream and may be true in some cases, but many people overlook the impact it had on the millions of Muslim Americans. The Muslim generation before us had its own problems dealing with racial discrimination and hate crimes, many people believed it stop their but this contempt was passed on to my generation. The discrimination I have received has caused me to change my aspirations in order to ensure that no one else receives the treatment I had gotten.

We are a country built by immigrants. The original settlers of this nation came from countries all across Europe, and America later became a beacon of hope for millions of immigrants throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. That being said, the discrimination against immigrants today might be could be seen as ironic because of how many immigrants were welcomed with open arms in the past. However, it has become clear recently that the discrimination is a little bit more complicated, as mainstream examples of prejudice all involve people of color, like Trump’s muslim ban for example. White immigrants from places in Europe as usually seen as exotic in a positive light, and their accented non-perfect english is endearing and even attractive to some. On the other hand,

Islam is the fourth largest and fastest growing religion in the United States (U.S.), which means there is a great amount of Muslim population (Ali, Yamada, and Mahmood 2015). However, after the attacks of September 11, religious discrimination against Muslims has been increasing in the workplace, especially, against Muslim women due to their religious attire (Ali et al. 2015). Since workplace discrimination toward Muslim women has been extended, many researches focus on the issue. My research problem is impacts of wearing hijab in the workplace and relationships between the practice of hijab, discrimination, job stress, and job satisfaction among Muslim women in the U.S. Research questions are differences and relationships between two groups

The connection between Islam and terrorism was not intensified until the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center that pushed the Islamic faith into the national and international spotlight (Smith, 2013). As Smith (2013) articulated, “Many Americans who had never given Islam a second thought before 9/11 now had to figure out how to make sense of these events and relate to the faith tradition that ostensibly inspired them” (p. 1). One way in which people made sense of these events was through the media channels that influenced their overall opinions by shaping a framework of censored ideas (Yusof, Hassan, Hassan & Osman, 2013). In a survey conducted by Pew Forum (2012), 32% of people reported that their opinions of Muslims were greatly influenced by the media’s portrayal of Islam that depicted violent pictorials and fundamentalist Muslims. Such constant negative depiction is likely to lead to the inevitable—prejudice and hate crime. For instance, in 2002 alone there were approximately 481 hate crimes that were carried out against Muslims (Smith, 2013). Ever since the 9/11 attacks Muslim people have been the target of “suspicion, harassment and discrimination” (Talal, n.d., p. 9).

This survey reveals that the problem with the Islam faith is not racial: The Muslim people are welcomed, the Islam faith is not. The violence that has been perpetrated against America, whether executed or planned, has brought to fruition religious persecution not seen since the persecution of the Jews in W.W.II. This “trust no Arab” attitude has brought shame to the Constitutional intentions of freedom of religion intended by our forefathers, and has set religious tolerance back 200 years. Looking at media representation of Muslim Americans prior to 9-11, it shows religious diversity in America, depicting Muslim America as just another religious community seeking to advance and protect their interests, not unlike other Americans. After 9-11 the media portrayed representations of threat and fear, creating boundaries between Muslims and other Americans. Such depiction transforms the identity of Muslims and American religious pluralism (Byng, M. pg. 3).