The Mistreatment Of The Zeitoun Family

In the airports, Muslim people became “the usual suspects”, were thoroughly searched and often interrogated. In her article, O’Connor claims that the lives of American Muslims changed forever, and the statement is hard to disagree with (“How 9/11 Changed These Muslim Americans’ Lives Forever.”) Those who had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, their children and grandchildren were sentenced to face racism, hate and violence.

The quote, “Sometimes it’s not the people who changed, but the mask that falls off” by an unknown speaker accurately describes a famous man Abdurahman Zeitoun. This man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, was so popular, a novel was written about his heroic actions during Hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun was a man that was nationally recognized as a hero for his actions during Hurricane Katrina in 2004. Zeitoun is infamously known for paddling around New Orleans in his canoe, rescuing many civilians from their flooded homes and bringing them to safety, and later being wrongly arrested by government officials due to his Islamic faith. However, much controversy was caused after Zeitoun was arrested for abuse charges against his wife. Some people see Zeitoun

Most people know about the attacks on Pearl Harbor but very few know about how it affected the lives of Japanese-Americans living on the islands. In the novel, Under the Blood-Red Sun, the author Graham Salisbury tells a story from the perspective of Tomikazu Nakaji, a young Japanese-American boy and his struggles with racism and becoming the man of his family. After the attack, the suspicions and biased racism of the non-immigrant Americans is raised, which lead to the wrongful arrests of Tomikazu's father and grandfather. This resulted with him having to get a job, take care of his family, and deal with the constant bullying of his neighbor, Keet Wilson. In the end, he manages to maintain the tasks his father had assigned him with the help of his friends. This book showed me the importance of friendship, honor, and persistence.

When discussing 9/11, the author writes about Post-9/11 America seemed determined: “Never Again.” Despite important differences, genocide and terrorism share one important feature, which is that both parget civilian populations. This led the author to ask, “To what extend is the mind-set of the perpetrators revealed by the way they frame their victims culturally (Mamdani, 11)?” The debate on this question turns around the relationship between cultural and political identity and in the context of 9/11, between religious fundamentalism and political terrorism. The ideas the author raised in the Good Muslim, Bad Muslim section, stuck out to me the most. Mamdani explained that President Bush moved to distinguish between “good Muslims” and “bad Muslims.” From the “bad Muslims” point of view, they were obviously responsible for terrorism and at the same time, Bush seemed to assure Americans that “good Muslims” were anxious to clear their names and consciences of this horrible crime and would undoubtable support “us” in a war against “them.” This doesn’t hide the central message of the discourse that unless proved to be “good,” every Muslim was presumed to be “bad.” All Muslims were now obligated to prove their credentials by joining in a war against “bad Muslims (Mamdani, 15).” This part of the reading really got me thinking about

Among this group of “Nisei” was the Uchida family from Berkeley, California. Yoshiko Uchida, the youngest daughter in the Uchida family was a senior at the University of California at Berkeley at the time of the attacks. Years later, Yoshiko became a prolific writer of children’s books (Sato 66). In her book, “Desert Exile”, published in 1982, Uchida gave a personal account of the evacuation and incarceration of her family during World War II (Sato 66). Uchida’s book raises awareness to the specter of racial prejudice and the hope that no other group of Americans would have to endure this type of injustice and violation of their human rights (Sato 66).

Reading is a crucial part of my academic life, it is a subject that is used multiple times throughout my life. Among the many genres that I have explored, suspense, adventures, and mysteries are my favored because they catch my attention and make me wonder what happens next. Two books that fit these qualities are Alan Gratz’s young adult novel “Code of Honor” and Mildred Taylor’s historical novel “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry”. In the novel Code of Honor, Kamran Smith has it all; a beautiful girlfriend, he is his school’s football star and his best friend got them free tickets to the Super Bowl but his life takes a sharp turn for the worse. Kamran’s older brother, Darius, who fought in the US Army in Afghanistan, is accused a terrorist. He is seen on video bombing the US Embassy in Turkey. Important themes the novel conveys are brotherhood and loyalty. Kamran displays these themes by believing that Darius is innocent. This book has personally affected my life by strengthening my brotherhood and loyalty. I now have a stronger relationship with my brother and we are more loyal to one another. In the novel, Roll of Thunder, one African American family, the Logans, fight to stay strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the deep South of the 1930s. The main character and narrator, Cassie Logan, speculates many events during her childhood which takes place in the time of the Jim Crow era. This book has affected me on a personal level because I

After September 11, 2001 I’ve had trouble finding what makes me more angry; the way the authorities handled the hurricane of Katrina or the way the Arabs were treated. I have herd countless stories related to the 9/11 attack and until today I see the way that has affected the lives of many. Through Eggers story, I was able to comprehend more about the tragedy in New Orleans and even though I thought I already knew about the aftermath that Katrina brought, Eggers grabbed my attention by introducing me to the story of a Syrian-American middle aged man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun. He was a father of four, married to an American wife Kathy and owned a

Have you even judged someone on who he or she is or what they looked like? And have you ever had a bad experience or traumatic experience happens and you looked for someone or something to blame, but in reality there was nothing to blame? Well, a natural disaster can be blamed on no one, but in times like that emotions run wild and blame can be put on someone who fits a certain profile. Racism and Hurricane Katrina were two forces that clashed together to create an even bigger problem for the victims. This is caused by an insecurity of the situation at hand. In the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, racism and racial profiling is the underlying themes in the story. These themes are also the underlying themes of people who are subjected

The 21st century for America so far includes two major disasters, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. David Eggers documents the Zeitoun’s struggles during Hurricane Katrina in his book Zeitoun. Choosing specific details, Egger’s purpose is to juxtapose Zeitoun’s humanity before and during Katrina to the cruelty Zeitoun was given after, and how Americans should reflect on those disparities.

In Eggers’ novels, it gave great examples about Islamophobia, for example, when FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency) arrested Zeitoun, they thought that Zeitoun was tied to a terrorist organization due to his ethnicity, “The authoring committee had been asked to speculate on possible terrorist exploitation of a high category hurricane.”(308). The government are basically saying that they should assume all looters or Middle Eastern descents are a terrorist threat to the United States during Hurricane Katrina. This kind of racial profiling in our government brings back past history. After the Slavery was abolished, African Americans and other minorities were being mistreated and was segregated from white people. The government did nothing to stop this kind of mistreatment and actually encourage white people to separate from the minorities by separating bus seats, bathrooms, etc. After 9/11 people start to see Muslims differently and we are basically repeating history. If we are not aware of this kind of prejudice, than Muslims will be mistreated and in the back of people’s mind they will view all Muslims as terrorist. It is an universal understanding that no one should judge or hurt somebody based on their ethnicity. Not only it is an universal understanding but in the future, we can prevent this kind of prejudice against any ethnic group because we are being exposed to this type of material early in

For a second, the U.S. stood still. Looking up at the towers, one can only imagine the calm before the storm in the moment when thousands of pounds of steel went hurdling into its once smooth, glassy frame. People ran around screaming and rubble fell as the massive metal structure folded in on itself like an accordion. Wounded and limping from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, America carried on, not without anger and fear against a group of innocent Americans, Muslim Americans. Nietzsche’s error of imaginary cause is present in the treatment of Muslim Americans since 9/11 through prejudice in the media, disregard of Muslim civil liberties, racial profiling, violence, disrespect, and the lack of truthful public information about

Throughout Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s autobiography, Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne experiences the struggles of Japanese-Americans during the World War II. After the Pearl Harbor bombing, Japanese-Americans were forced to be sent to an incarceration camp often through isolated deserts and swamps. They were sent to the camp because they looked like the enemy. Their bravery and fighting for what they believed in were their version of social justice because Japanese-Americans wanted an equal opportunity just like the Caucasians. The book on what Japanese-Americans went through at that time resembles with this modern day Trump’s immigration law on Muslims. The Japanese-Americans and Muslims both face discrimination, separation from their family, and institutionalized injustice.

In Zeitoun by Dave Eggars, Abdulrahman Zeitoun is portrayed and known as a Muslim American Hero of Hurricane Katrina. It is understandable to think this way at first because we read that he helps no less than ten of his neighbors during the flood and also feeds the four dogs he comes across. However, while I read on, I found myself thinking that Zeitoun was quite the opposite of a hero. A hero is defined as being “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities” (Dictionary). Zeitoun though, chooses to abandon his family during the storm so he could look after his customers’ properties to hopefully have his business blossom.

The author incorporates personal bias in the book Zeitoun to demonstrate the horrors of death and separation during Hurricane katrina. The author's portrayal of Zeitoun as a devoted father made readers feel a sense of loss and anguish at his disappearance: “There is nothing worse than this, Kathy thought, there can be nothing worse than this” (Eggers 185). Kathy trying to assure her daughter that her father was living, gave the reader a glance of the pain other families faced when they had no communication with their family members after Katrina. Zeitoun’s depiction of a benevolent man who feels guilt for not being able to save the dogs. “The dogs were just under the windowsill a tangle of limbs heads to heaven as if they had been waiting for

Zeitoun’s story includes many positive experiences in the aftermath of Katrina, such as saving peoples lives; however, his nightmare begins when Nasser, Zeitoun’s friend, calls him outside, where law enforcement takes him into custody this way “’Give me your ID,’ one man said to Zeitoun. Zeitoun complied. The man took the ID and gave it back to Zeitoun without looking at it. ‘Get in the boat,’ he said. ‘You didn’t look at it,’ Zeitoun protested” (Eggers, 206). The men detain Zeitoun without explaining