Economic Structures: Islamophobia In The United States

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.

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

Although African Americans and women were being discriminated in the 19th century, in the 21st century, this type of attitude has now transitioned toward a specific religion. Islamophobia, also known as the fear of Islam, has become odiously popular after the despicable 9/11 attacks. Due to terrorists claiming they are of Islamic descent , society has

What is and what isn’t Islamophobia? The term is used to describe prejudice against, hatred towards, or fear of the religion of Islam or Muslims. It came into wide usage in 1997, upon the publication of a report by the Runnymede Trust, a nonprofit English think tank. This report described, “closed views” of Islam,

Although Islamophobia stems from religious differences and oppression today's it is present because way too many people have the perception that Muslims and anyone from the Middle East is a terrorist and has an evil agenda. "Although every Muslim is not a terrorist, every terrorist is a Muslim" (Gul,2011). This view of Islamic and Middle Eastern people is present for many reasons. One being how they are being portrayed in the media. Whenever something ISIS related is reported the views of non radical Islamic people are rarely shown and if it is it's a two or three minute segment (Obeidallah, 2014). Of all violent crimes committed in the US each year the crimes of Muslims are bring to public attention more than others yet they only account for 160 of thousands (cite). In most Hollywood movies you will find nothing but Muslims being portrayed as the assailant. Another cause for Islamophobia in our society is how the government portrays people in predominantly Islamic communities. The US is constantly in need of oil and many other natural resources that are in abundance in the Middle East. With someone these countries refusing to share for the proposed prices the US has waged war against them to gain control over these

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.

According to a gall up poll in 2010, almost half of Americans believe that Americans are prejudice toward Muslim Americans. In which 66% of Jewish Americans say that they are prejudices towards Muslims in America. (Source 4). Americans can gather these racist qualities from just embracing what they see on their television. Americans are embracing false facts about the religion of Islam such as Islam promotes violence, Islam doesn’t give women equality, Muslims are imposing to change our judicial system into Sharia Law, and promote Female mutilation and

Islamophobia is the fear of Muslims, or the religion of Islam, according to BBC (2017). Some people blame all Muslims for terrorist attacks, that are caused by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, Isis, and Boko Haram. These organizations allegedly follow Islam, I say they allegedly follow Islam, because if they had indeed studied Islam, they would understand that Islam is a religion of peace, not terrorism. The word “Islam” means submission to God’s will and obedience to God’s law. It derives from an old Arabic word meaning “peace”. (What is Islamophobia? – CBBC News Round. (2017, June 19).

Ultimately, Islamophobia is an issue that needs to be banned because it is causing discrimination against Muslims in the US based on their race and appearance and belief, it violates rights of Muslim-Americans and lastly, it sets a bad impression on the Muslims. Again, there are many Muslim men or women who have been discriminated because of how they look. Islamophobia is a serious issue because thousands of Muslims are being targeted every day by getting picked on and being discriminated. As a result, Muslim rights are being taken away from them because they are not allowed to attend specific places or do specific things. Thankfully, there are organizations who are aware of this issue and are aiming to solve it immediately, like CAIR. CAIR

Islamophobia is an exaggerated hatred towards, or fear, of Islam and Muslims or an ethnic group that is perceived to be Muslim. A phobia is an irrational fear. Some people say that it’s not irrational to fear Muslims. Many others say that this fear has led to prejudice against Muslims, who are unfairly judged by their religion and their race. It is said that the United States is responsible of islamophobia. Islamophobia existed before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but increase during the past decade. It has been estimated that 2.7 million Muslims lived in the United States as of year 2k11. 55 percent of those Muslims have found it difficult to live in the United States since 9/11 because of the way Muslims have been viewed by the Americans. 16 percent felt that their lives haven’t changed since the occurrence of 9/11, they have not faced or encountered any problems in their lives. Many Muslims report saying they don’t feel respected by those in the western countries. Post-reflective personal Islamophobia is a discrimination because the person believes that the ideas of Islam are lower-ranking to those of the West. About 52 percent of Americans and 48 percent of Canadians also say that the western countries don’t respect Muslims. Smaller percentages of Italian, French, German, and British also agree with Americans and Canadians. According to Alan Johnson, Islamophobia can also be nothing more than racism, “Wrapped in

“Islamophobia is prejudice towards discrimination against Muslims due to their religion, or perceived religion, national, or ethnic identity associated with Islam because Muslims have different beliefs and values”. (Islamophobia wikipedia 1) Like anti-semitism, racism, and homophobia. Islamophobia describes mentality and actions that domain an entire class of people. Jews, African-Americans, and other populations throughout history have faced prejudice and discrimination. Islamophobia is simply another reincarnation of this bigotry. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary,a phobia is an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. It may be difficult to determine or communicate the source of this fear, but it exists. From this definition we can see how is so unfair to connect the word phobia to Islam specially because the word Islam in arabic means peace and safety. All that means that a lot of people don’t know nothings about Islam and the unknown can easily provoke fear.

A current cultural conflict taking place in America today is religious. Many Americans discriminate against the Islamic faith and there have been countless acts of mistreatment of Muslims in the work place, at school, in public, and in the media. Negative feelings and acts toward Muslims have become so prevalent that in 1991 the Runnymede Trust Report coined a term for it. The report defined the “unfounded hostility toward Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims” as “Islamophobia” (Defining “Islamophobia”). There has always been some religious cultural conflict with Muslims in the United States, but since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, conflict has escalated significantly.

Before the September 11, 2001, hatred towards Muslims in the United States started in 1923, when Muslims started migrating to the United States, an unlike increased presence. The hatred towards Muslims, also known as “Islam phobia”, was first featured in The Journal of Theological Studies. Many Muslims were targeted, the religion of Islam, Muslims, or any ethnic group perceived to be Muslim were characterized as having “bad faith and cruelty”, according to prejudice Americans.

The word “Islamophobia” was first used by Orientalist Étienne Dinet in 1922 meaning, “a useful shorthand way of referring to the dread or hatred of Islam and, therefore, to the fear or dislike of all or most Muslims¨ (Cesari, 2011, p.1). Such dread and dislike have existed in Western countries and cultures for centuries (Trust, 1997). The events of 9/11, which was a prominent act of terrorism in America, have caused a misunderstanding of the religion of Islam. Many Americans are coming to believe that all Muslims are violent and that Islam promotes violence (Zaal, 2012). However, this misunderstanding is causing a clear divide between Muslims and other Americans in communities and schools. To eliminate this issue, one must look at the political, cultural, social implications, which includes how to protect America’s foundation on religious freedom, how to decrease the discrimination against women, and stop bullying in schools and hate crimes against Muslim Americans. Although many believe interference is unnecessary as Muslims are seen as a minority, that there are other ways to decrease the amount of hatred toward Muslims, and teach religion in schools, James Baldwin’s “A Letter to My Nephew” suggests otherwise. He discusses how minorities will never be given the same opportunities as every other American and also argues against the idea that in order to fit into American society, one must change themselves to do so (Baldwin, 2014). Baldwin asserts that minorities such as

Islam bashing, islamophobia and hatred for Islam amongst non- Muslim are common things nowadays. Some people who did not know about Islam labeled Islam and Muslim as barbaric religion who promoting violence and hatred against non-Muslim all around the world. Their wrong perception about Islam has resulting to islamophobia without knowing the reality about Islam. The islamophobia derived from the words phobia, which in the dictionary it means fear, and hatred to something. In other words, islamophobia means that fear, hatred and hostility of non-Muslims towards Islam. Professor Morales expands the Dictionary meaning of Islamophobia as intolerance or aversion for Islam – to acts of bigotry, prejudice, malice, anger and hate toward Muslims and