Islamophobic Prejudice In America

Muslims are one of the most marginalized people in the U.S for their beliefs and their religion but after 9/11 discrimination and hate crimes against them had become even worse.Throughout the U.S people have been “Anti-Islam” and believed that the Muslim’s religion is absurd, want muslims to change their beliefs or, leave the country.According to “Anti-Islman Discourse in the United States in the Decade After 9/11:The Role of Social Conservatives and Cultural Politics”by David D.Belt on page 211-212, talks about how a post on Charisma News with an article title “Why I am Absolutely Islamophobic” was urging at the fact that Muslim-Americans needed to be deported as soon as possible ,or go under sterilization.Also Belt talks about one of Bush’s family friend being,Franklin Graham saying that he thinks the muslim’s religion is “very evil “and “wicked”.One last example a man named Gabriel had said Islam is the real enemy of America and that we supposedly “we will be doomed in war if we don’t realize it”. People are so brainwashed it honestly insane and very ignorant at the things people think about Muslims, its barbaric.They believe what Muslims believe in and their religion is wrong and they should switch to “Christianity” because it is the “American way “ or have them deported because the do not belong there and are “terrorist”.

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.

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

Describing herself in order to achieve normality, may have established credibility. However, without valid facts Mogahed wouldn’t be able to accomplish this sense of trustworthiness. Mogahed being present in the United States of America during 9/11, shows that she has experienced this part of history and is able to share her experience of this historical day with us. She talks about how she ordinarily woke up that morning and started making breakfast. Like every other morning, she would open the TV to see the news. However not like every other morning, the news is filled with headlines about a terrorist attack, accusing Muslims of such a revolting ambush. Just like that, 1.6 billion Muslims were labeled as terrorists by the actions of some hypocritical bombers. Moving onto the 21st century, “some will still argue [that] Islam is a violent religion” where a group like ISIS bases its brutality on the Holy Quran. Mogahed efficiently back fires stating that “ISIS has as much to do with Islam as the Klu Klux Klan has to do with Christianity” where “both groups claim to base their ideology on their holy book”. According to Mogahed, several neuroscience studies “show that when we’re afraid [of such cults and terroristic activities], at least three things happen: we become more accepting of authoritarianism, conformity and prejudice” (5). Furthermore,

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.”

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

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

Ever since September 11, 2001 Americans along with the majority of the world’s population have been skeptical of Muslims. It’s a sad reality but it’s hard for people to think of a Muslim without linking them directly to terrorism. But these assumptions aren’t totally out of the blue—the Muslim’s religion, Islam, teaches a low tolerance for other religions and the Islamic government has no separation of church and state, so it’s only normal to assume that their government shall have a low tolerance as well—some however, immediately translate this into terrorism. Through the Islamic government and religion, relations with foreign countries, and separation amongst themselves it can be concluded that Islamic Fundamentalism is clearly a threat

Since Islam is a religion that promotes peace and kindness, one could ask where the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists originated. Following the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Arabs and Muslims have been presented as potential terrorists. This idea stemmed from the theory that, “media bias increases when a specific ethnic, religious, or racial group is seen as a threat to national security.” (Stiffler, 2013). Since the attacks on September 11, 2001 Muslims and Arabs have been “hyper-visible” in the media as potential terrorists. Due to the negative media attention and failure of most media platforms to

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.

To illustrate, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) organizes suicide bomb attacks in many countries and they claim that they justify this attacks with Islam and different interpreting of Quran. These attacks pose a threat for the innocent people all around the world and cause a massive fear from Muslims among non-Muslim people. What’s more, due to ISIS’s belief that it represents the Islam, people generalize all Muslims as terrorists. In this point, in his article ‘Islamophobia plays right into the hands of Isis’ Jones (2015) express that it is certainly enough to say that the vast majority of Muslims do not except their interpretation of Islam and he emphasizes that there is a highly big distance between Muslim world population and the ISIS. Besides, as it is known ISIS also attacks several Muslim countries and causes to death many Muslims. In spite of this fact, it might be suggested that one of the most important reason for the Islamophobia in the world is existence of terrorist groups and their brutal

Ever since 9/11 Americans have feared, despised, and also was infuriated towards Muslims. Why? 2,977 Americans died altogether on 9/11 many American families’ lost loved ones. Think about all the ones that lived what happen to them mentally. “Many of the people who lived to see their friend die in the catastrophe of 9/11 have some of the worst PTSD humans can have” (Bromet, Hobbs and Gonzalez). From Stony Brook University tested and surveyed people that seen and lived through one of the catrothpee and only 9.7 of the people did not have any more symptoms from 13 years ago. So many people who have been surveyed had some of the worst PTSD readings ever. I understand the pain of losing someone. Everybody does, although Americans have been hurt but I can say as an American I do resent the terrorist that attacked America but I do not resent all the Muslims.

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.

The connection between Islam and terrorism was not intensified until the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center that pushed the Islamic faith into the national and international spotlight (Smith, 2013). As Smith (2013) articulated, “Many Americans who had never given Islam a second thought before 9/11 now had to figure out how to make sense of these events and relate to the faith tradition that ostensibly inspired them” (p. 1). One way in which people made sense of these events was through the media channels that influenced their overall opinions by shaping a framework of censored ideas (Yusof, Hassan, Hassan & Osman, 2013). In a survey conducted by Pew Forum (2012), 32% of people reported that their opinions of Muslims were greatly influenced by the media’s portrayal of Islam that depicted violent pictorials and fundamentalist Muslims. Such constant negative depiction is likely to lead to the inevitable—prejudice and hate crime. For instance, in 2002 alone there were approximately 481 hate crimes that were carried out against Muslims (Smith, 2013). Ever since the 9/11 attacks Muslim people have been the target of “suspicion, harassment and discrimination” (Talal, n.d., p. 9).

Before the September 11, 2001, hatred towards Muslims in the United States started in 1923, when Muslims started migrating to the United States, an unlike increased presence. The hatred towards Muslims, also known as “Islam phobia”, was first featured in The Journal of Theological Studies. Many Muslims were targeted, the religion of Islam, Muslims, or any ethnic group perceived to be Muslim were characterized as having “bad faith and cruelty”, according to prejudice Americans.