Backlash Against Arab Americans, Muslims Continues
© Anayat Durrani
It has been a week since the horrific terrorist attack that paralyzed America. Feelings of shock, grief, and anger have swept a nation trying to cope with a catastrophic attack that cut short the lives of thousands of innocent people. In the past week, the entire country has made the quiet transition from shock and disbelief to deep mourning. And as America prepares for war abroad, within American borders the wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hysteria has reached dangerous levels.
For Arab Americans and Muslims this past week has been doubly hard. Not only have they been grieving like all other Americans since the attack, but also many have been living in fear. The Arab-American and Muslim communities have been subject to hate mail, death threats and many have been attacked as Americans vent their anger toward those they hold responsible. Incidents since the Tuesday attack have included ethnic slurs, phone threats, hate mail, attacks on individuals who look Muslim or Middle Eastern, and vandalism and shootings at mosques, Arab and Islamic centers, businesses, and institutions.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) have compiled lists documenting hundreds of incidents of hate crimes, violence, harassment and threats against Arab Americans, American Muslims and others following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. CAIR alone has documented over 400 incidents since the Tuesday attack. These incidents took place in the first 72 hours, and are still being processed. The high number of incidents is typically what the organization receives in a year.
Hate crimes have occurred throughout the United States. An Islamic bookstore was attacked in Virginia; a crowd of 300 marchers chanting “USA, USA!” tried to march on a mosque in Chicago; in Texas bullets shattered windows at the Islamic Center of Irving; in Manassas, Virginia, a cab driver was chased and assaulted with a bottle as he tried to pick up his daughter from school; in San Francisco pigs blood was thrown at an Islamic community center; in Ohio a man drove his car through the front entrance of the Parma Mosque. And Muslims and Arabs have not been the only victims of the backlash. On Saturday, an enraged gunman killed a 49-year-old Sikh who owned a gas station in Mesa, Ariz. Family members believe he was singled out because he looked “Middle Eastern.” That same day, a Pakistani Muslim storeowner was shot and killed in the area of Dallas, Texas. An Egyptian-American grocer was shot to death at his store in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel on Monday in what is believed to be a hate crime.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Anayat Durrani's Islam in the U.S. topic, please visit the Discussions page.