Post 9/11 Arab-American Discrimination

Like other ethnic minority groups in America, Arab Americans face daily challenges in their overall development and well-being. These challenges take the form of discrimination, stereotyping, and general negative reactions to them as an ethnic group.

* Just because you are Arab does not define you as being a follower of Islam.

Many young Arab Americans were forced to work under hostile circumstances. Reports reveal that Muslims and Arab Americans were traumatized due to the discriminatory behaviors in the workplaces. According to Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), over 800 cases of work discriminations were recorded following the year of 9/11(Hussein 2003). The major discriminatory activities included various types of harassment in the workplaces, ineffective job placements and no consideration for promotions. According to Faisal Rabby and William M. Rodgers, “...9/11 and the anti-terrorism measures were associated with a relative

Coming from an Arab American household, there has always been an emphasis on higher education and higher socio economic status. I believe that it is something that can be found in various Arab American Communities in the United States and these standards set in the household show when you look at the statistics as to where Arab Americans stand on both educational and socio economical scales. This paper will look into the history of Arabs in the United States, as well as the demographics of the Arab community in the U.S, and cultural and physiological backings that may all have influence on education. My goal for this research paper is to find the reasons behind the Arab American strive for education and socioeconomic success and whether the Arab culture has a positive or negative influence on the success of Arab Americans.

Arab Americans are defined primarily of their religious identity and they reside in all 50 states. The first generation of immigrants from the Middle East dates back to late 1800s. The majority of immigrants’ population came from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Religion plays an important role in the Arab society and most of their way of life is not necessary because of their religion. Like many other immigrants, the reason these immigrants migrated to the United States was to escape the religious persecution, an opportunity to build a better life. Majority of how Arabs interact and the way their culture is has to do with the Koran and it is one of the foundations of Islamic law. In the Arab American culture, family is an important aspect and everyone plays their respective role. Fathers are the head of the households and are expected to provide for his wife and children. The women has restrictive education and they help support the family by caring for the house. Kids take on a role are taught by their parents depending on their gender. Boys are most likely to follow the footsteps of the father to prepare to care for his own family one day. The girls learn the basics of running a household. It is common for the children to live with their parents until they marry or live with them to care for them as they age and can no longer care for themselves. The Arab culture also value respecting the elders and they are often the decision makers in the family. The family

On September 11, 2001 America was in shock because of the events that occurred that morning to their beloved world trade center twin buildings. The deaths and injuries caused the people to automatically hate those that were responsible, Al Qaida members. This group is notorious for their dislike of American lifestyles. From then on Americans would go on to keep a close eye on these individuals and people that looked like them. That same year in the United States “58 percent favored Arabs to undergo more lengthy security measures. “From Samuel R. Gross, “Racial Profiling Under Attack”, (June 2002): 1413.

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.

The study of race and ethnicity is not a cut and dry conversation that always has the same result. The definition of race and ethnicity has changed over time as we have put social weight on what we have put into each definition. In this paper, I will be looking at how two authors, Vilna Bashi Treitler and Stephen Steinberg, discuss the questions and definitions of ethnicity, race, and mobility in American society. For instance, one author tends to combine race and ethnicity into one definition and use them interchangeably while the other author does the exact opposite. The Ethnic Myth by Steinberg is cultural groups trying to get ahead, all about class, getting to the middle class, money, economic mobility (Lecture 12; 5-16-18). While the Ethnic Project by Trielter is getting ahead without being racialized while trying to climb the ladder and having to make subdivisions. It is all about status order and social mobility for Treitler (Lecture 12; 5-16-18).

Course Description: Ethnic Studies is designed to bring awareness and understanding of the problems facing the American people in the area of race and ethnic relations, primarily focusing on ethnic minorities. Ethnic Studies will focus on the nature and scope of relationships between minority groups and majority group in the United States.

The Changing racial and Ethnic Composition of the US Popluation: Emerging American Identities. (). Retrieved from

From evidence based practice, it has been proven that racism and discrimination is evident in our society. As defined by Webster’s Dictionary, “racism is the poor treatment or violence against people because of their race; and discrimination is the unfairly treatment of a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people” (Merriam Webster, 2015). When immigrants settle into America, they are pursuing happiness, sovereignty and a new beginning. However, for countless immigrants, this idea becomes merely an illusion. The battle to gain acceptance from the America population is a struggle. While seeking economic opportunity and independence, it is more often that immigrants experience discrimination. However, the purpose of this essay a to provide readers with evidence based practice regarding discrimination against American immigrants. Found below is an article that both proves its thesis, and provide a data analysis.

since September 11th? How have they stayed the same? Because of the media’s portrayal of Arabs as “evil” and “a threat”, most Americans perceived them as such. The Muslim and Middle Eastern community did not have such attention before the incident. Most Americans had already seen Middle Easterners has a strange and dubious group for the customs and common, religious practices; but it only got worse following the attack. Since 9/11, people began to perpetuate the stereotype that “all Middle Easterners/Muslim Americans were terrorists” as well as “all Middle Easterners are Muslim” and the people were consistently scrutinized. These harmful assumptions has instilled a sense of apprehension in the Muslim community due to their fear of being publicly discriminated. In contrast, the attack was not widely approved by Middle Easterners and Muslim community; the community responded by saying that it had been orchestrated by extremists whose action did not represent the entirety of their

The media caused fear and hate towards Arab-Americans. Many Arab-Americans are Americanizing their names, or just outright changing them. A lot of this comes back to what is in the media. There are new death tolls for the Iraq War, suicide bombings, and violence in the Middle-East. It subsidizes to a developing fear that nothing is safe. This is where the Patriot Act comes into

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

To fully understand the extent to which racial differences play a role in American society, we must first understand the prominence of prejudice and discrimination against minorities in the country. According to Sensoy and DiAngelo, we use prejudice to place people into groups that “make sense” based on gender, age, economic standing, and appearance. We use stereotypes along with prejudice to generate an understanding of a person without truly knowing them. We then discriminate against members of this group based solely on what ideals we have created about them due to prejudices that are often instilled in us from birth (chapter 3). Many Americans adopt views from our parents about people of a particular race or background and often think negatively of them just because we see