Hate Crimes: Discrimination On Muslims

On September 11th of 2001, more than 3,000 people died during the terrorist attacks. The event changed the lives of not just the people whose loved ones died on that day, but also of those who belonged to the Islamic world. The experience of Muslims who lived in America in 2001 and those who were yet to come here would never be the same again. After 9/11, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States increased and their everyday lives changed forever due to the rise of islamophobia and the vicious influence of the American media.

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.

Trump as the president-elect has divided the country more than it has brought it’s people together. ‘There has always been hate and divisions,’ some would say. While this is true, this kind of prevalence has not been at the forefront of the political, personal, social, etc. sphere in a long while. Headlines are becoming more trigger inducing and there has been an uproar of hate crimes across the nation. While both sides have contributed to the hatefulness, the way that the hate is manifested is more rampant among supporters of Trump. This is seen through the way that the hate crime rate has gone up since November 8th. In more ways than one Trump’s election into office has given these people that have hate in them a pass, of sorts, to act on that hate and victimize others.

Just like the Red Scare, people were protective over themselves avoiding any Muslim. They thought, “any muslim could be a terrorist spy.” People grew suspicious of muslims. The attack changed many people’s minds about how they saw Muslims. The were no longer the peaceful human beings. Most non-Muslim Americans saw them as a threat. Many innocent Muslims faced discrimination along with harassment and physical injuries. Angry Americans, who’ve probably lost someone in the attack of September 11th,2001, took out their frustration on the unimpeachable Muslims. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 481 hate crimes committed in 2001 were found to be anti-Islamic. Later years, that number increased. The first anti-Islamic hate crime was committed to Balbir Singh Sodhi only four days after the September 11th attack. The sad part of it is that Sodhi is not Muslim, he is a Sikh. He was mistaken to be a Muslim. Laila Alawa shared her experience as a Muslim aftermath of the September 11th attack, saying that “ ...being a Muslim kid in upstate New York meant being alienated and isolated without understanding why.” The discrimination is still going on today but very slowly, it is

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

Hate crimes can cause emotional or physical harm. The victims live life in fear because they are being targeted. However we are in America. All citizens should be able to live in peace. The severity and aftermath of racially motivated crimes are the main reason laws towards hate crimes were created.

Plenty of recent studies and cases that involved hate crimes have had a steady increase in recent years throughout the United States. The crimes range from minor cases such as disagreements and gender bias however the major cases are the ones that have constantly surfaced such as crimes related to Religion, Race, Sexual Orientation, and most importantly Gangs. Hate crimes have always been around although many of the people committing the crimes know that what they are doing is wrong psychologically they believe their actions are justified by themselves or a group they ae associated with even at the cost of a human life. Many group and individuals committing these crimes make it a part of their lifestyle to commit these crimes based upon their

Although the multicultural nature of American society enriches the lives of it’s citizens, the diversity of cultures and ethnic groups has unfortunately also evoked resentment and hatred among some individuals. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a hate crime is a criminal offense committed against members of a specific group by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, ethnic/ national origin group, religion, or sexual orientation group (FBI, 2004).

After 9/11, Americans had immediately started to stereotype Muslims to being terrorists. Ever since the planes hit, the media had portrayed the Islamic culture as if they were all terrorists. This makes it to where all Americans become fueled to become a stereotype culture towards the Islamic religion (Jolls). There was a guy by the name of Aziz Ahsan he is a Muslim that was in the event of 9/11. He says that “Muslims died and Muslims survived 9/11”. He also said that “People just automatically assume that Muslims were not the survivors."(Frumin). With this the Muslims will not be able to ever come out and live a normal American life without the antagonism of

this type of religion being a part of U.S. culture. In the article “Hate Crimes Against Muslims” we can clearly look at the examples of how people, who have the right to express their religion freely in our country, are treated by other citizens with the exact same rights. For example: “A woman wearing a headscarf was insulted, told to “go back to her country” and physically assaulted. The perpetrator broke one of her fingers and ripped off her headscarf.”

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.”

Being a Muslim in America country is a struggle, and ever since 9/11, things have taken a turn for Muslims. When Trump was elected president, the discrimination against Muslims has grown stronger. People need to be educated about Muslim culture and eliminate the perception that every Muslim is a “terrorist.” The community I am looking towards on the University of Kentucky campus is the MSA. The MSA is the Muslim Student Association and their goal is to promote Islam and teach us all about the peaceful nature of the religion. Throughout my paper these 5 sources that I researched played a major role in the Muslim community. My first source was a video called Muslim leaders speak out after mosque fire. My second source was an article called Young

Since Islam is a religion that promotes peace and kindness, one could ask where the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists originated. Following the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Arabs and Muslims have been presented as potential terrorists. This idea stemmed from the theory that, “media bias increases when a specific ethnic, religious, or racial group is seen as a threat to national security.” (Stiffler, 2013). Since the attacks on September 11, 2001 Muslims and Arabs have been “hyper-visible” in the media as potential terrorists. Due to the negative media attention and failure of most media platforms to

Ever since the start of September 11, 2001, Muslims around the world and in the United States have been targeted, taken to war, murdered,

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).