Discrimination And Hate Crimes

Following the terror attacks in The Unites States in 2001, there has been an increase in Islamophobia in the Western World. Following 9/11, respondents indicate that levels of implicit or indirect discrimination in The United States rose by 82,6% and experiences of over discrimination by 76,3% (http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/21/3/317.short). A combination of how Arabs and Muslims are portrayed in the media, with the increase of organized terrorist groups and refugees since the Arabic Spring, makes this a big political challenge today. This bibliography is written to get an overview of why Islamophobia has increased and the challenges that comes with the rise of Islamophobia.

Immediately affter 9/11, Muslim Americans were victims to more frequent hate crimes and bias incidents. According to the FBI (2002), hate crimes against Muslims rose 1,600 percent between the years of 2000 and 2001; going from 12 hate incidents in 2000 to 93 in 2001. A study conducted immediately after 9/11 showed that 40 percent of Americans felt that the attacks represented the “true teachings of Islam” and that between 2002 and 2003 the number of Americans that thought Islam promotes violence against non-Muslims rose by 14 percent (Panagopoulos, 2006). When Muslims themselves were surveyed, their feelings mirrored the findings in post 9/11 studies: 91 percent of Muslims surveyed believed that discrimination against Muslims in the United

American Muslims are having their civil rights violated more and more and are constantly being discriminated against. Haddad says that “Post 9/11 American Muslims were linked to enemy others and were expected to prove their loyalty to the nation-state in ways other Americans were not expected to do. The trope of Muslims as enemies within lingers.” The national media still portrays American Muslims as enemies to the United States. These unquestioned beliefs about Muslims leads to Islamophobia and Said says “To most Americans, Islam is nothing but trouble. The use of the label Islam, to either explain or indiscriminately condemn Islam, becomes a form of attack.” Said goes on to say that “Islam is used to define a small portion of extremism instead of the billion Muslims

Islam is a monotheistic religion, centered around the teachings of the Qu’ran and serving Allah (meaning God in Arabic). However, this Abrahamic religion has been harshly discriminated against in the United States for years. Most prominently throughout the last twelve years, post September 11th, 2001. Unfortunately, issues such as socialization through the media, power distribution, religious ignorance, stereotyping and visible differences have contributed to the ill attitudes towards Muslims. This paper will examine how Americans have been socialized in islamophobia within the United States.

Washington Post reported in February of 2015 that “Prior to the 9/11 attacks, the Uniform Crime Reports program typically recorded between 20 and 30 anti-Muslim hate crimes per year. But in 2001 that number rose more than tenfold to nearly 500.” The sheer volume of crime directed towards Muslim people highlights a widespread misconception that every Muslim is a threat. Once people thought they knew who was to blame, they sought revenge; but one extremist group of terrorists cannot be applied to an entire complex culture of people. The actual hate crime instances included in statistics are disturbing and atrocious. International Business Times reported the brutal killing of a Somali 15-year-old boy who was killed when an SUV “intentionally swerved toward him” (2013). The SUV had anti-Muslim graffiti on the back window reading “Quran is a virus disease [worse] than Ebola”. The act that this is a hate crime is undeniable and unfortunately, it is just one example of many. This appalling example of prejudice displays the theme of mass hysteria, in which people are collectively acting out of fear and threatening those who played no role in terrorism against America. These continuous patterns show a snowball effect in our nation, in which as fear increases over time, people are becoming more violent. By the time 2013 hits, we are having

According to a website “gallup.com” Islamophobia is described to be an exaggerated fear, hatred and hostility towards Islam and Muslims that is perpetuated by negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination and the marginalization and exclusion of Muslims from social, political and civic life. According to “Progressive.org”, a new study shows that bias against Muslim Americans is having an impact on their job prospects, especially in red states. In those red states, only 2 percent of applications by the Muslim candidate received interviewed invitations compared to 17 percent for the Christian candidate, the study finds. A friend of mine who is a Muslim told me that after 9/11, her father lost his job, and was arrested for questioning because he was Muslim and an Arab. This directly goes against the standards America was built upon. A result from progressive.org also found out that “Since 9/11, Muslim-Americans have claimed 33 lives in the United States, out of more than the 180,000 murders committed in the U.S during this

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).

The unexpected rise of hate crimes has surged to a point American citizens can hardly believe. To Kill A Mockingbird is a prominent and well know example of the racist, uncensored, and ugly side of American history. Yet, plots including situations such as police brutality and racially-motivated crimes are as current in the novel as they are today. Crime against minorities is rising, and the future and safety of many is threatening.

The number of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States went up after the 9/11 attacks and it remains a huge problem today. According to Disha, “the numbers of anti-Muslim hate crimes

A 2006 Today/Gallup poll found that 44% of Americans had the perception that all Muslims were too extreme in their religious beliefs and 22% of the respondents would not want a Muslim as a neighbor. Islamophobia in America skyrocketed as a result of the 9/11 attacks and changed the way that Muslim-Americans and other Americans were able to interact with one another. These statistics show that there was significant fear of Muslims in the years after 9/11. In the years following the attacks, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in America spiked and have not dropped to pre-attack levels since. As Graph 1 shows, in 2001, there were a reported 481 hate crimes and majority of these would have occurred in the months following September. Although

Since 9/11/2001 hate crimes related to Islam-phobia has risen to nearly 481 and since has stayed above 100 in subsequent years. In 2015, 2% of hate crimes are anti-Islamic. Many times people are attacked for wearing hijabs, and even non-Islamic, Arabic people that wear hijabs are attacked because of their "terrorist" appearance. This is a ludicrous thing, comparing a group of millions of faithful followers to 22 extremists. Now, every day, Islamic followers live in fear of being attacked for their beliefs; this fear escalates one day a year—9/11.

Despite the fact that Muslims hate terrorism more than many others, the society falsely points on Islamic believers for satisfaction. It is believed that Muslims are causing violence around the world. The world, in which people figure the differences, the society averted to layout the difference between Radical Islam and Islam. The community knows who to blame when a terrorist explodes a bomb, but does a Muslim know who to blame when he/she get disgraced and harassed? The public and the media can’t see that Muslims are also a human being who have emotions. Criticising one another isn’t the solution to Terrorism. Everyone must come together to wipe out terrorism

Given that our society has such a dense population of different races, ethnicities, religions and sexual orientations, it is important to understand both the goals and challenges of policing and dealing with hate and bias crimes. Considering that since the beginning stages of immigration we have tried to support successful assimilation, hate and bias crimes create a huge barrier. Hate and bias crimes “occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group, usually defined by race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation” (en.wikipedia.org). Not only is it difficult for our society to identify this sort of crime,

The Klu Klux Klan, one of the most recognised hate groups in US history, was founded in 1865. They were under the impression that people of color were less valuable than white people, some even believing that they weren't human. Something people don’t realize is that groups like that are still around today, and just as active as ever. Hate groups, and just random unorganised hate crimes are just as real as me and you, and they are still an active threat. Hate Crime is relevant, and as a society, we should be doing our best to snuff out the flames of prejudice and resentment that burn in the hearts of anyone willing to participate in such unjust behavior. This kind of activity is not only hurtful emotionally, but sometimes, it turns to violence. Innocent people getting picked off the street simply because of their beliefs, who they love, or the color of their skin. This is something that nobody should stand for, especially now, in this constantly progressing world. All in all, Hate Crimes are a real problem, and in order to stop injustice such as this, we need to work together as human beings to accept people, regardless of who they are.