Anti-Arab racism: patterns, causes, and societal impact

Anti-Arab Racism

The objective of this work is to conduct a review of literature addressing the question of whether post-9/11 has been a significant factor in promoting popular consent for the erosion of civil liberties for all Americans? Has islamophoibia provoked people to give up their civil liberties through the reinvigoration of Anti-Arab racism?

The work of Rami El-Amine (2006) entitled: "Anti-Arab Racism, Islamophobia, and the Anti-War Movement" states that racism against Muslims and Arabs was around long before the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and that much of this racism has its basis in "Western Imperialism in the Middle East, especially Israel's colonization of Palestine." El-amine reports that the ABC-Washington Post poll of March 2006 states findings that it is the belief of people in the Untied States that "Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence." (2006) Forty-six percent of thee individuals expressed a view of the religion of Islam that is negative which is seven percent higher than the negative views held by individuals polled immediately after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Findings in the poll are stated to include the fact that twenty-five percent of individuals in the United States acknowledged that they harbored prejudice toward Muslims and Arabs. El-Amine states that the "institutional effect of this racism is stark." (2006)

Evidence of this prejudice is stated to be noted in the fact that Arab and Muslim men working in the United States had experienced a ten-percent drop in wages earned since 9-11 with the greatest drop in wages being in areas that reported high rates of hate crimes. El-Amine states that this is no surprise when one considers the extent of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism "perpetrated by governments and the media around the world." (2006) El-Amine states that while blatant racism such has been witnessed in other countries has not been existent in the United States, there still have been incidents of such. Examples stated by El-Amine include the following:

1) in 2005 a radio host in Washington DC, "referred to Islam as a 'terrorist organization' on his show;

2) "The Coalition for a Secure Driver's License started a campaign to put up "Don't License Terrorists" billboards depicting an Arab holding a hand grenade in one hand and a driver license smeared with blood in the other; and 3) Republican Congressman Tancredo of Colorado openly called for the U.S. To preempt a terrorist attack by attacking Muslim holy sites like Mecca." (2006)

El-Amine states that it has not been difficult to further the racism against Muslims and Arabs because as noted by Noam Chomsky such racism has "long been extreme, the last 'legitimate' form of racism in that one doesn't even have to pretend to conceal it." (2006) El-Amine states that there is a sense of legitimacy and respectability in the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism in that "racism cuts across the entire political spectrum, from right to left. It is accepted and even practiced by those who would not tolerate other forms of racism. While the anti-racist record of liberals and some on the left is not the best, it is particularly bad when it comes to Arabs and Muslims." (2006)

The work of Susan M. Akram (2002) entitled: "The Aftermath of September 11, 2001: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims in America" begins by stating: "Words and images [run] together like watercolors on a child's easel - Arabs, mosque, terrorism, Muslims, extremists - making it hard to tell where one began and another left off." Akram states that the demonization of Arabs and Muslims in American "America began well before the terrible tragedy of September 11, 2001. It can be traced to deliberate mythmaking by film and media, stereotyping as part of conscious strategy of 'experts' and polemicists on the Middle East, the selling of a foreign policy agenda by U.S. government officials and groups seeking to affect that agenda, and a public susceptible to images identifying the unwelcome 'other' in its midst. Bearing the brunt of these factors are Arab and Muslim non-citizens in this country. A series of government laws and policies since the 1970's have steadily targeted Arab and Muslim non-citizens for selective interrogation, detention, harassment, presumption of terrorist involvement, and removal from this country. The Patriot Act, recent round-up and detention of over 1,000 and list of interrogation targets of 5,000 individuals, and the Presidential Order to establish quasi-military 'tribunals' exacerbate the selective targeting of Arab and Muslim non-citizens in a climate of fear that completely sanctions blatant racial profiling." (2002)

Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim content have been formulated by commentators into "various 'racist' theories, from anti-immigrant sentiment that targets whichever group represents the most recent immigrant population to a more dynamic process of 'radicalization' that focuses on a social-political order that requires a marginalized 'other." (Akram, 2002) the first is stated by Akram to only partially provide an explanation for the demonization of Arabs and Muslims in America and that this is particularly as Arabs have specifically "been part of the fabric of United States society since the late 1800s." (2002) the second according to Akram, Omi and Winzant's characterization is more helpful but does not precisely delineate the very specific factors that have come together to 'racialize' Arabs and Muslims in the United States." (2002) Akram states however that "the reasons for defining race as a process are particularly valid as they indicate both the severe damage 'racialization' can do to the communities and individuals affected, and that the process can be reversed." (2002)

The racism toward the Arabs and Muslims is stated by Akram to not be emanated "from a single source, and certainly is not limited to passions stemming from the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several types of anti-Arab racism and violence can be discerned. The first, and most obvious, is the political violence of Jewish extremist groups, which is correctly viewed as emanating from the Arab-Israeli conflict.... The second is a more nativistic violence which is xenophobic and local in nature.... The third is a form of jingoist hostility and violence usually associated with international crises involving U.S. citizens...." (2002)

Consistent in the stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs as being 'terrorist' in the United States is the Arab-Israeli conflict since Jewish extremist groups "constitutes an undeniable source of anti-Arab hate violence not discussed in conventional accounts of racist violence in the United States." (Akram, 2002) One of the most active of all terrorist groups in the United States was the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in the 1980s. In fact, the FBI published a bulletin in 1987 reporting a study which "indicated that Jewish extremist organizations committed 'approximately 20 terrorist incidents and numerous other acts of violence, including extortion of threats...' representing about one quarter of the total terrorist acts in the United States in the 1980s. Yet well-regarded hate crime listing and studies do not separately identify Arab ethnic origin in their victim classifications and other completely omits Jewish extremist groups from the categories of perpetrators." (Akram, 2002) Akram relates that there is very little known concerning the "phenomenon of politically-motivated threats and intimidation against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. By such mainstream Jewish organizations as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai Birith." (2002) This organization was formed in the 1900s to fight anti-Semitism and "has gained a reputation as one of the foremost anti-racism groups" in the United States. However, the alternate mission of the ADL is "to discredit or silence critics of Israel of defenders of Palestinian human rights." (Akram, 2002) This group released a handbook "Pro-Arab Propaganda in America: Vehicles and Voices" in 1983 and individual and groups who voiced any criticism against Israel or Zionism were listed in this handbook. All of these individuals were stated to be extremists with intent on the eradication of Israel and as having incited prejudice against the Jews. Akram states that listed in this handbook were some of the brightest academic individuals and that this handbook was distributed nationwide in the United States. Two similar lists were issued by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Both the ADL and AIPAC "harassed and intimidated academics and activists for years." (Akram, 2002)

Akram writes that the "popular caricature of the average Arab is as mythical as the old portrait of the Jew. He is robed and turbaned, sinister and dangerous, engaged mainly in hijacking airplanes and blowing up public buildings. It seems that the human race cannot discriminate between a tiny minority of persons who may be objectionable and the ethnic strain from which they spring. If the Italians have the Mafia, all Italians are suspect; if the Jews have financiers, all Jews are part of an international conspiracy; if the Arabs have fanatics, all Arabs are violent." (2002) Akram notes that "feeding already-existing stereotypes in American society about Arabs and Muslims, media and film have found a ready audience for dangerous and one-dimensional images." (2002)

Akram states: "One of the factors with the greatest impact on the targeting of Arabs and Muslims is what might best be termed 'institutionalized racism' in government and law enforcement, in collaboration with institutions and think-tanks having a specific ideological or foreign policy agenda driven by anti-Arabism. This is also possibly the least well-documented phenomenon in the racializing of Arabs and Muslims leading to the widespread acceptance of profiling and related loss of civil liberties." (2002)

The work of Nicole J. Henderson (2001) entitled: "Law Enforcement & Arab-American Community Relations After September 11, 2001" reports a study in which Arabs living in the United States were interviewed. Henderson reports that when asked about hate crimes "...community respondents across sites mentioned fear of government policies, at times equating the detention of Arab men and special registration with hate crimes. Another leader felt that "before 9/11, there were always questions of bias from people -- from individuals -- but not ever about the government and the police." A business leader commented in response to whether or not hate crimes were a problem in his community, "Now we're dealing with another prejudice. Right now, this is a very serious problem because I believe that 25% of the hate crimes are coming from government." He continued by saying, "Some of the investigations being done are wrong, and if the Justice Department looked into this, they would not approve of it." Finally, another business leader explained, 'The community is concerned about civil liberties, first and foremost. We are concerned about the attacks on those liberties. We're not so much concerned with issues in everyday life with neighbors -- racism, etc. -- because racism has always been there." (Henderson, 2001) Henderson further reports that in a report published by the FBI Behavioral Unit in 2002 along with the American Psychological Association and the University of Pennsylvania in which comments were forwarded concerning harm to law enforcement-Arab-American community relations resulting from policy decisions following 9-11 states findings that the Muslim and Arab communities see damage done to their relationships with law enforcement due to incidents occurring following 9-11 and that these incidents "are not seen as inevitable outcomes of 9/11 by members of that community, but rather as apparently arbitrary results of policy decisions made by the Department of Justice and the Bush Administration." (Henderson, 2001) Henderson reports that when the Arab-American community in the study was asked the question "What are the main concerns of your community at this moment?" The following answers were given with the percentage of respondents for each answer:

Government policies and actions

Immigration 17%

Racial profiling by law enforcement 14%

USA Patriot ACT/Civil Liberties 13%

Detentions and deportations 10%

Special registration 8%

Victimization

Viewed with suspicion 9%

Harassment 6%

Hate Crimes 4%

Employment discrimination 3%

The FBI's 'Hate Crime Statistics' for the year 2002 speak clearly concerning acts perpetrated based on race, ethnicity and religion. For example in 2002 the total of all hate crimes were 7,462 total incidents. Of the 7.642 hate crimes reported for 2002, 3,642 or 48.8% were racially based, 1,102 or 14.8% were related to ethnicity or nationality of the victims. Of the hate crimes reported for 2002 1,426 or 19.1% were related to the religion of the victims with 16.7% being related to the victim's sexual orientation and a much lesser percentage being attributed to the individual's disability or multiple bias incidents. However, it is interesting to note that the perpetration of hate crimes committed in 2002 were lower than the hate crimes reported for the years 1995 through 1999 however, the hate crimes committed in 2002 were much lower than those reported in 2001 as well as being lower for all other years reported, excepting the year of 1996.

There is a problem that most Americans have yet to recognize in the policies of the U.S. government since 9-11. The U.S. Patriot Acts and the erosion of civil rights is not only applicable to Arabs and Muslims but effectively have served to erode the civil rights of all Americans. For example, as noted in the work of Akram (2002) "One of the patterns emerging from the post 9-11 government policies is the use of race, religion and ethnicity to target particular communities in the U.S. For arrest, detention and removal. Using race profiling for law enforcement in the non-immigration context has been seriously challenged when the African-American or Asian-American communities have been the target. Race profiling has been discredited in that it violates the Fourth Amendment probable cause requirement; it violates equal and is poor law enforcement strategy." Unfortunately, it appears that within the context of immigration that "race profiling might well pass constitutional muster. There are a number of significant legal obstacles to the use of the Fourth Amendment as a constraint on racial profiling" (Akram, 2002) Akram states that the U.S. government's actions following 9-11 in the 'war on terrorism' "do not appear to meaningfully enhance the security of the American people against terrorism. They are, on the other hand, exacting an extraordinarily high price on Arab and Muslim non-citizens, already demonized through historical animosity by private and government groups and individuals. They are, indeed, rapidly eroding the civil liberties of other non-citizens and U.S. citizens as well." (2002)

The work of Hussein Ibish and Anne Steward (2003) entitled: "Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab-American: The Post-September 11 Backlash" states that in the first nine weeks following the attacks of 9-11 there have been more than "700 violent incidents targeting Arab-American and Muslims" and there have been more than "80 cases of illegal and discriminatory removal of passengers from aircraft after boarding, but before takeoff, based on the passenger's perceived ethnicity." (Ibish and Steward, 2003) Added to this have been: (1) secret detentions, hearings and deportations; (2) alien registration based on national origin and ethnicity; (3) voluntary interviews of thousands of young Arab men; (4) monitoring of international students; (5) discriminatory visa screening procedures for young Arab men; and (6) selection deportation of Middle Eastern 'absconders'. (Ibish and Steward, 2003) the provision of the U.S.A. Patriot Act has resulted in: (1) indefinite detention of foreign nationals without process or appeal; (2) new search and surveillance powers with insufficient judicial review; and (3) measures providing for guilt by association. (Ibish and Steward, 2003) While this may initially have sounded okay to most Americans out of the fear arising due to the incident of 9-11 along with the government's cry of alarm the truth is that the civil liberties of all Americans are at stake since the Patriot Act has resulted in the following; (1) eavesdropping on attorney-client communications; (2) military tribunals; (3) suspension of constitutional rights of U.S. citizens without due process or appeal; (4) domestic law enforcement spying on lawful political and religious activities; (5) seizure of assets without due process; and (6) Operation TIPS - Terrorist Information and Prevention System, and other programs encouraging Americans to spy on each other. (Ibish and Steward, 2003)