I will be writing about the oppression of Middle Eastern people in America. They can come from Egypt all the way to Iran, and they make their home in America. When Terrorism became a more talked about problem, fear started to trickle out. And with fear there comes a lot of anger about what we don’t understand. America is predominately a Christian nation and the sects that follow that belief system, and therefore Americans in general have more of a bias view to those religions. This is what makes it hard for Middle Eastern people to live here with this oppressive attitude. What doesn’t help is how the only news that is told to Americans deals with wars and suicide bombings, it creates a view that people from the Middle East are actually dangerous and have ideas that threaten Americans. In reality, those are the talked about topics because they are flashy and make people want to read about it.
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
The role of the Middle East has been very crucial to the United States, especially after WWII. The U.S. had three strategic goals in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout various events that unfolded in the region. First, with the emergence of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S., policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area in containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the U.S. becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to U.S. influence. Secondly, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened U.S. policy and involvement in the region while also creating friction between the U.S. and Arab states which were
“Oppression, you seek population control, Oppression, to divide and conquer is your goal, Oppression, I swear hatred is your home, Oppression, you mean me only harm.” (Harper). Oppression is a serious issue in our society today. Although it may be less serious than the past it is still a matter of importance, having to deal with sexism, religion and most importantly racial issues. Throughout the decades we have seen various ethnicities deal with racial oppressions. Many of the problems of the past still exist, and they may push the victims of the oppression beyond the emotional point of no return. A Hispanic male such as myself, can be the victim of several types of oppressions, including racial oppression.
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.
Much of America’s history has been saturated with situations dealing with race and the people associated with them. It is impossible to talk about the founding of America without looking at the invention of race. This is because race was intricately embedded in the foundation of America through the two part process of racialization. Through this a dichotomous race structure was developed and implemented. This was carried out mainly by the U.S. government, which used policies, social arrangements, and institutional patterns (class notes 10-6-10) to further embed race into American society. The government helped to increase white’s superiority. When the government could not do it all publicly they brought in the private sector. The public
In this course we learned about many different types of oppression, from the time America was first “discovered” and the discoverers began oppressing the Indians, to slavery, to the oppression of the mentally handicapped, all the way to more “modern” times in schools were students are being oppressed.
America has always been labeled the “melting pot” and the “land of the free,” but when one is analyzing the history and social norms of the country, these statements are far from true. America has thrived through the oppression of minority groups and social pressure towards these groups to conform to the majority culture. In any historical sense, from the near extermination of Native Americans to the racial profiling of Muslim individuals after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, minority groups have always been the victims and have always been viewed as different if they do not assimilate into the “typical” American culture. Numerous works of literature have successfully displayed the struggles that minorities face when attempting to conform. Two works in particular, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman and When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, tell stories of two different minority groups: Native Americans living in the 21st century and Japanese-Americans during World War II. While these stories are separated by several decades, it is clear that American culture has not changed, as each story exemplifies how difficult it truly is to leave old cultural norms behind in order to be accepted by the majority.
Asian American and Pacific Islander women have faced up with several multiple systems of oppression that are based on gender, race, class, age, language ability, and immigrant status. These issues cause directly to sexual assault and domestic violence that some of the AAPI women experience today, and these violences will possibly be increasing rapidly among AAPI communities and families as well. In ReAppropriate Blog, it reports that about 60 percent of the incidence of sexual assault is in Asian American communities, including Cambodian, Korean, and South Asian American communities. And this blog also reveals two significant barriers that towards reporting of assault. The first barrier is a cultural stigma. Many survivors were afraid to report
No one is born a racist; they are born in to a racist society. While ‘nature vs nurture’ has been a widely controversial topic, it is undeniable that environmental factors are the real origins of our behavior. The type of environment that we surround ourselves with is what affects people the most. Whether it be public, private, or home schooling, we are required to receive some form of education. In the US about 28% of students ages 12-18 are reported being bullying at school. On average, 7.2% of students admit skipping school due to personal safety concerns (Bureau of Justice Statistics). The Muslim community contributes to the majority portion of the reported victims of bullying. This begs the question: How are American Muslim students being treated
America is known for being the land of opportunity where everyone has a chance to be successful and happy. The first permanent European settlement in Jamestown, Virginia was founded in 1607 by Englishmen who wanted to escape religious oppression and live without the monarch breathing down their neck. This set the tone for the rest of American history, and what is now known as the American Dream which is the ideology that anyone in the United States can be successful with hard work. Unfortunately, America is not as perfect as some make it out to be due to the concept of institutionalized oppression specifically towards racial minorities. Almost 300 years after the colonists of Jamestown had introduced a new brand of oppression to the New World,
The world is filled with different races, cultures, religions and beliefs; everyone has a different opinion and perspectives on life. Unfortunately not everyone respects other peoples personal opinions, this had led to discrimination, stereotyping, hatred and even war. After many incidents that affected the world; Arabs started being discriminated by many people. People were stereotyping the Arabs and they had the wrong image about them.
News Media as well as entertainment helped fuel the suspicion against Arab-Americans, with sensationalized news reports and depicting Arabs as terrorists. This worked to desensitize the average American to the plight of the Arab American while also inciting their anger towards a group of innocent people. Suheir Hammad writes in reference to a woman she saw crying in a parked car after the terrorist attack in New York, “I offered comfort, extended a hand she did not see before she said, ‘we’re gonna burn them so bad, I swear, so bad’” (254). An act done by a group of Arab-Americans had become the responsibility of all Arab-Americans. They were to be responsible for this act; they are the problem, because they are foreign. No ‘real’ American would
Concerning the issue of prejudice against Arab Americans, few researches have been done. It is surprising seeing as little attention has been paid to this ethno-religious group whose population rate has tremendously increased after 9/11. However, one study by Park, Felix, and Lee (2007) do give us an idea of how prejudice is expressed, implicitly or explicitly, against Muslim people. In their study, they found that discrimination against Arab Muslims is never shown in an explicit way but rather in a subtle way. They used an Implicit Association
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.
One of the least known minority groups in the United States is the Middle Eastern minority. Although the place of Middle Easterners became the forefront of public discussions recently, especially with relation to Islam and terrorism after 9/11, Middle Easterners in the United States have a long history. They have become part of the American society, and many second- and third generation Americans with Middle Eastern background have become publicly recognizable figures, working in the business, political, entertainment, and media sectors as well as the U.S. military. Among these figures are General John Abizaid, Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, actress Shannon Elizabeth, Miss USA Pageant Rima Fakih, and political and social activist Ralph Nader.
It’s important to acknowledge the historical context when understanding oppression because oppression always has its roots somewhere; no one is oppressed just because. Marginalization of minority groups in the past, and even today, has a purpose—not necessarily a good purpose, though. The purpose was usually for power; majority groups wanted to be the standard for good, resulting in the dehumanization of minority groups. Therefore, to understand fully why the oppression still stands today, it’s important to look back on how it started. That way, we can see why it still persists in our society; is its original purpose still being pursued but in a less physical way like in the past? And, is it still affecting the same people today, even to a