Do I Look Like Public Enemy Number One By Lorraine Ali

Homeless people are a vulnerable population in many respects that they always face discrimination and exclusion because of their housing condition. It is a social problem that typically low wages and shortage of affordable housing are the main factors contributing to homelessness. In fact, many poor people face significant barriers to maintain stable housing because they don’t have accessibilities to increase their economic stability. Overall, there are significant factors that contribute to homelessness that many homeless people usually struggle with limited access to resources, lack of information about services, and lack of support systems.

Americans tend to infer a lot about other people based on their appearance. When we cannot pin down what someone is it makes us uncomfortable since we can categorize them. We use media to perpetuate stereotypes and myths which later become immutable so called truths.

To be an American, means to me, that you are accepting of the differences around you; however, we as Americans are not very good at accepting those who do not agree with us. In an article,a publisher for NBC News, quoted a leading crimes researcher who stated, “hate crimes in nine U.S. metropolitan areas rose more than 20 percent last year, fueled by inflamed passions during the presidential campaign and more willingness for victims to step forward.” Many believe being an American means you have freedom, but what freedom? Freedom of speech? Freedom of Religion? The other “freedoms” stated in the Bill of Rights? How true can that be if those around you are so quick to go as far as harming others just for being different. Americans often hide behind their right to freedom of speech to be demeaning, but

America is known for its freedom. Freedom to speak your opinion, freedom to practice any religion that you choose, and freedom to criticize the government. American’s are able to have the power or right to act, speak, or even think about almost anything they wanted to without restraint from the government or from other people. Migrants from other countries come to the United States to have a chance at freedom. To raise a family away from war torn cities or harsh governments. They come to America in hopes of getting the chance to succeed in life and express themselves without anybody critiquing them. However, America is not as free as it’s made out to be. American history has been filled with racism and discrimination against

Numerous post-9/11 television ential the issue of stereotyping and discrimination against Muslims. The many programs showed the ugly side to the justification of prejudices. American-studies scholar Evelyn Alsultany says, "The right to be racist and suspicious of Arab and Muslim Americans is affirmed and the government practices to profile racially, detain, deport, and terrorize Arabs and Muslims are accepted."

As I begin to type this essay, I cannot help but feel an oquet barcode over my head. This barcode, having been with me since birth, contains all of the terms used to describe me: Muslim, Brown skinned, Arab American. These terms, a result of the natural human characteristic to categorize what we see, are fallible, inaccurate, and potentially dangerous. For example, because of these terms entire groups of people can become labeled to certain attributes. As an Arab American, people assume many things about before I even speak with them.It is hard to have a different view of people when all you see or hear of them are from indirect sources such as the media, whose priority object is to make profit, even if it requires the creation of a twisted

Firstly, I’ll be using the cause and effect mode development to define how this prejudice came to be. Specific events that I’ll go over briefly are the main cause that made this effect of oppression begin. The wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, are starting points for the problems that exist in our society towards Middle Eastern people. Wars are like tornadoes, destroying anything and everything its path. All you have to do is watch the local news in order to see the hurt that is evident from the war, and I think it’s easy to forget that there are people in those countries with the same

Muslim Americans are people whose religious belief is Islam, but they were born in America. Before September 11, 2001, Muslim Americans were rarely a discussion or a problem. However after September 11, 2001, Muslim Americans were the main topic. Even though Islam is a religious belief, people are fearful of anything associated with it. Some people discriminate against people who resemble those who are practice the religion. Even though it is not relevant to race, the difference between racism; and religious discrimination is often unclear to people. People believe that terrorists are Muslim activists, but that’s wrong because not all terrorists are Muslims.

After several incidents that happened around the world, peoples view on Arabs changed. The media played a big role in “the stereotyping of Arabs”. It is one of the main reasons for people to think the way they are about Arabs. Many

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.

When one takes a good look at our society, it is clear that it is purely dominated by the messages that are constantly fed to us by the media. The media is so powerful that a majority of people do not even realize that it affects them in any way. In fact most people are convinced that they are completely unaffected by it. One of the reasons that the media is so powerful is because of the cycle of socialization. The cycle of socialization can open ones eyes to why our society has specific views of people from other cultures, races, and genders.

It is not only Americans that have issues accepting everyone because of race, gender, ethnicity etc., it is done everywhere in the world. Therefore, the fact that in America I am at least provided with the same rights and

Americans are saying that Islam goes against Americas way of life, thus disowning the Muslim culture. By simply rejecting the Muslim people, America is going against its fundamental ideal of unity that goes beyond any race, religion, and background. With many diverse cultures and religions in America, it is unrealistic to ostracize Islamists and deny them the right to live in a free country. Though time has elapsed since 9/11, Americans still view Muslims as a group that can never fully

Syed Soharwardy asserts that “Media always tried to portray Islam as a religion of terror and all the Muslims as terrorists. The way the talk-show programs and news are produced and presented, it seems that the media has already decided the guilty verdict, regardless what would be the outcome of an investigation” (Soharwardy). So too do members of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee recognize the media’s predisposition toward bias, as is pointed out in this statement, found on their website: “Key industries of American mass culture, Holllywood and television, for decades have been bastions of anti-Arab stereotyping, and have consistently resisted positive or realistic representations of Arabs and Arab Americans. (Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee).”

"The US media has been clubbing together terrorism and Islam, influencing the American public to think that all Arab Muslims are "crazy and violent terrorists"… The American media has been a primary agent responsible for creating racist stereotypes, images and