Post 9/11: Discrimination In The United States

In addition, the post 9/11 stigma has disturbed the American-Muslim mentally. In a brief report conducted by an American Psychologist,"Post 9/11: The Impact of Stigma for Muslim Americans," Saera Khan examines the communities experience. Khan conducted 12 studies on different populations and collected the data through her personal contacts outside the mosques, community centers and organizations. The survey involved 11 questions regarding how Americans view Muslims and Arabs. The data was collected between 2003 and 2006 after the two years of 9/11 incident. At that time there was a high wave of hatred towards Muslims in the American society. The type of questions which were asked were about how people were looking them after 9/11? Many of

Muslims now, suffer from discrimination in America ever since the 9-11 Era. Some people believe that muslims were the reason why 9-11 and other terrorists attacks happened. The hate for American-Muslims has increased by 78%. Even our president, Donald Trump, wanted a ban on immigration by Muslims. The anti-Muslim hate and violence have reportedly increased rapidly after Donald Trump’s comments on the Muslims. Social media and the news for months

This paper discusses the impact 9/11 has had on the lives of American Muslims in the last ten years. It talks about discrimination against Muslims in the workforce, employment opportunities, the legal system, and through public perception. It also discusses how American Muslims responded to these societal changes and how Islamic organizations have been trying to address the problem of discrimination through conducting public awareness campaigns as well as supporting civil rights of American Muslims in courts and in the media.

However, there are hundreds of people across the nation who have decided to discriminate Muslims because of the terrorist attack. There was a major increase in anti-Islamic violence after the attacks (Villemez). In 2000, there were a reported 28 hate crimes towards Islamic people, whereas that number jumped to 481 in 2001 (Villemez). In a survey done, a majority of Muslims have experienced verbal harassments and increased airport security (Villemez). Prior to 9/11, 80% of Americans opposed racial profiling, but that same number turned to support discrimination against those who were assumed to be Arab or Muslim (“A Rage Shared by Law”, 1267).

“All Muslims are now suspects” expressed Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. After 9/11 ethnic profiling was directed heavily toward people of Muslim or Arabic descent. Discrimination toward Muslims occurs in many settings and is often degrading and evil. The irrational fear and public mindset swing around the country was a huge consequence of 9/11. Politics, communities, and culture has shifted to where citizens do a double take on those who are Muslims because of the flashback they get when they remember where they were on 9/11. For some, just the sight of a Muslim in our country sends a shockwave though their mind. On September 11, 2001, the United States froze in fear as terrorist attacks

“Since 9/11, Muslims in America are living in fear” (“In a virtual internment camp: Muslim Americans since 9/11”). When our World Trade Center came crashing down, American had one more enemy, Muslims. 9/11 was a tragic act of terrorism and those victims will not be forgotten, but because of the Muslims that did this terrible act most Muslims in America were grouped into one category, evil.

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

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

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

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.”

After a horrible terroristic attack that shocked the whole world on September 11th in the center of New York City, Muslims in the Western world have been constantly fighting against prejudice. After September 11, media interest in Islam increased, where Islam was usually portrayed in a negative way. Before 9/11, many Muslims lived the normal, everyday life. However, the attack has changed lives of many people that belonged to the Muslim community, where they were the victims of guilt. Unfortunately, many Americans were introduced to Islam, after the 9/11 attack, thus even till today, Islam is associated with terrorism. For the past ten years, Muslims felt excluded from the American society by being rifled, attacked, discriminated, checked

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Muslims everywhere began to be wrongfully persecuted and attacked. They have also since been denied equality in the workplace as “Americans with Muslim names have a harder time finding a job” and “American Muslims have experienced increased job discrimination since 2001” (Epstein 53). Without the ability to find a job, not only are Muslims effected in their daily lives, they are also unable to find a source of income, hindering them from supporting their families. Muslim religion can also cause further disturbances because there are several “law-abiding Muslims who are unfairly targeted and punished simply because they are Muslim” (qtd. in Epstein 52). This exemplifies the idea

9/11 is known as one of the most tragic events in the history of the United States. Since World War II, America had proven its superiority and had become a progressive and powerful country. The occurrence of a terrorism group entering the country, breeching security and killing several thousands of Americans took a toll on almost everyone. Not only was the safety of the public questioned, the nation’s security legitimacy was as well. Since 9/11, many debates on American policy have been sparked. However, not only has this event had an impact on policy in America, it has had a severe impact on the public’s perception of Muslim American’s. It has been fourteen years since the attack in 2001 and Muslim Americans are still facing a terrible bias and being treated with disrespect. The American society has perceived Muslims into a single group that associates them all with terrorism (Bayraktaroglu). This is stereotype leads to a negative public perception.

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.

In the United States today discrimination is still an issue in society. As a society progress has definitely been made, but it has never fully gone away. Some of the most discriminatory action takes place in the American justice system. Young minority males between the ages of 25-29 are subject to being treated the most unfairly while whites of the same age are still being treated better than any race in this country. African American and Hispanic males are being incarcerated at higher rates than white males in America. Not only are minorities being incarcerated more, but also they are subject to harsher sentencing terms, fall victim to police racial profiling, and have disparities in the war on drugs. Also whites are still the dominant