Middle Eastern Immigrants: Victims Of Hate Crimes

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

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

According to quod.lib.umich.edu there was a reported 1,700 hate crimes to middle easterns between 2000 and 2001 after 9/11.

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.

The issue of discrimination has been one that has been with our country for years. It became an issue again with the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. It is known that people of Arab decent were behind the attack. Because of that, a huge issue of racial profiling has come up as people look at all people of that decent as evil terrorists. Most of these people have been living in the United States all their lives, and have done nothing to warrant the accusations. The question then becomes, should we let these people go on living innocent until proven guilty, or should we make an exception in this case? Our nation has lived by the code of “innocent until proven guilty” since its creation so many years ago,

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

During the years of post-9/11, Americans have started to become wary of non-Americans in their home land of the fear of another terrorist attacks. The 9/11 attacks have changed American views on the muslims and on the Middle East. It also had made security regulation more strict and discriminatory. Since post-9/11, Americans the wrong impression of the Middle East and have negative views of it and also have stereotype of it as well.

One incident that had really triggered all of this was what happened in New York City on September 11th, 2001. On this day that is better known as 9/11, 19 militants from the terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four aircrafts. Two of said aircrafts crashed into the World Trade Center and one crashed into the Pentagon near Washington D.C. During those attacks, Over 3000 people were killed, including more than 400 firefighters and policemen. After the incident, Americans had been paranoid about people who were Muslim, as Al-Qaeda was an Islamic group. Many years later to this day, anti-Muslim bigotry has got much much worse. Things like portrayal and treatment of Muslims has gotten terribly worse.

After the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2002, the government of America felt threatened. Society as a whole went straight to thinking that all Middle- Eastern people were terrorists and were going to plot more attacks. Many people who look of Middle- Eastern descent were beaten out of the anger from the attacks. It was common belief that people who are Middle-Eastern are terrorists.

Isis attack caused people to dicriminate the Islamic followers. Now when we think of terrorist we do not think of mexicans or asian we think of Islamic followers. In airports police search for Islamic followers and they inspect them for any bomb threats and usually its always just that group of people. In 2004 tye

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.

Muslims faced tremendous amounts of prejudice after the September 11th attacks. The September 11th attacks were four coordinated attacks perpetrated by the terrorist group known as Al Qaeda. These attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 innocent people. These terrorist attacks also contributed to the fear that we now know as Islamophobia.

Historians, specifically American historians of the 21st century have demonstrated an interest in the Middle East in Islam, due to Americans frequent contact with the Middle East in the early 1960s. Islam and the Middle East have played a remarkable role in Americans discussion and reaction to the events that took place on September 11th, 2001. During this time Americans were beginning to regard the Middle East, Muslims, and Islam as one entity. Americans and the world regarded the Middle East as Islam and Islam as the Middle East. Thus, this correlation between the two made Muslims say Muslim Americans and Muslims in America as less western and more of another, but they were also seen as untrustworthy individuals. Additionally, prior to the September 11th, attacks and an after effect of September 11, was that Muslim men were violent and Muslim women as oppressed individuals. Thus, the perception of Islamophobia and the threat it brings to western society has impacted the discussion of Islamophobia in America.

After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being