Discrimination Based on Religion after 9-11 - Research Paper Example

Discrimination Based on Religion After 911 i. Introduction Rage at those accountable for the catastrophic events of September 11 is directed mostly on innocent individuals because of their religion. Casellas (2005) stated that there were increasing number of religion-based harassments and discrimination complaints particularly on Muslims and people from the Middle East and South Asia (p.2). The discussion on this paper will focus on religion-based discrimination against the Muslim community in Western countries. It will present some statistics of its occurrences and results of some interviews conducted by concerned groups. An evaluation of the research results will be provided along with recommendations and conclusion of the research. ii. Purpose There are various categories of discrimination; race and ethnicity are the most common but recently, religion based discrimination became widespread particularly after the horrible terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. The purpose of this research is to determine the extent to which religion-based discrimination against Muslim is occurring in the America and other Western country after the so-called 9/11 attack. iii. Discussion According to Heymann (2006), the situations of Muslims in America, as far as discrimination is concern following the 911 attack is divided into three categories. The first are those Muslims who are already U.S. citizens and resident aliens. Second are those aliens within the United States who are Muslim. The last are those trying to come in to the United States for work and other reasons. Statistically, he noted further, that the most vulnerable category who will have the greater likelihood of discriminations is Muslim groups seeking to enter the United States (p.1). Moreover Heymann (2006) states that since it would be unlawful and definitely inequitable to have a regulation specifically applied to Muslims, U.S. citizens or not, the application of official discretion in applying new or traditional U.S. laws disproportionately affected Muslims. The enactment of new statutory provisions designed to deal with terrorism is creating a wider zones of discretion resulting to either bias or injustice. This exercise of discretion he discussed further has been apparently targeted on Muslims (p.2). According to the survey conducted by Georgetown University and Zogby International (2004)1, the impact of discrimination, particularly coming from the government’s anti-terrorism campaign found 26% of Muslims had experienced racial or ethnic profiling while 70% said they have not been the target of profiling. In the news, CNN a year after 9/11 reported incidence of racial profiling and discrimination. The report says five passengers filed separate suit against Continental, American, 1Georgetown University and Zogby International, 2004, Muslims in the American Public Square: Shifting Political Winds and Fallout from 9/11, online, available at http://www.projectmaps.com /AMP2004report.pdf; Press Release, Georgetown University, Georgetown Announces Release of 2004 American Muslim Poll (Oct. 19, 2004), available at http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=1310. United and Northwest airlines from removing or preventing them to board a flight last year after the September 11 terrorist attacks (p.1). Furthermore, as far as private discrimination is concern, 40% of American Muslim experienced anti-Muslim discrimination since the 911 attacks and 57% of them said at work, in school, or in the neighborhood, their friends and relatives suffered the same fate. The non-Muslim community however has considerable elements that would support discrimination against Muslims. In a poll conducted by Cornell University Media and Society Research Group (2004)2, 22% of Americans surveyed are in favor on profiling based on being Muslim or with Middle East origin. The number of those who are in favor of requiring Muslim to register their locations to the government and infiltration of Muslim civil organizations by law enforcement is bigger at 27% and 29% respectively. However, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2005)3 also said that more than half of Americans interviewed expressed their support to the American Muslims while 36% believes that Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religion. Although the Pew Forum’s survey conducted in following year, yield the same result, the poll sponsored by the Washington Post in 2006 (Deane and Fears 2006, p.1) reveals that almost half of American respondents (46%) have a negative outlook of Islam and one out of four harbor discrimination towards Muslim and Arabs. 2Cornell University Media & Society Research Group, 2004, MSRG Special Report: Restrictions on Civil Liberties, Views of Islam, and Muslim Americans, online, available at http://www.comm.cornell.edu/ msrg/report1a.pdf 3Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2005, Views of Muslim-Americans Hold Steady After London Bombings, online, available at http://pewforum.org/docs /index.php?DocID=89 In the summer of 2003, The New York City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR 2003)4 reported that the following weeks after the 911 attacks, harassment, and violence against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians were evident thus considerable increase in protests and unreliable evidence emerged in the media and community forums. However, none of these complaints was filed in the New York’s Human Right Commission. In the survey conducted by the Commission in 2000, 69% of the respondents believed they experienced one or more discrimination since 911. Bias related harassment or violence were most common but there are reported threats and physical contact where several Muslim women says that people are spitting on them and they were forced to take their ‘hijabs’ (head and body covering) off. Others told the commission that their neighbors are putting garbage in their front doors, breaking their windows, and burning their cars (p.10). Reported incidents of discrimination at work is at 26% where supervisors and other co-workers calling Muslims ‘Bin Laden’ or ‘Terrorist’. Women were told not to wear their traditional headdress at work and they even heard one supervisor saying, “They should kill all Muslims”. Aside from these harassments and verbal abuse, a large number of Muslims said they are having difficulty finding a job since many employers have negative reactions on their ethnicity or religion (p.11). Even on self-employed Arabs or Muslims, they all experienced losing their contracts because of client’s prejudice. Armour (2005)5 of USA Today reported that religious bias charges filed with EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) are higher today than before 9/11. The 4CCHR, 2003, Discrimination Against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians in New York City since 9/11, New York City Commission on Human Rights, New York City, online, http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/pdf/sur_report.pdf, p. 4 5 Stephanie Armour, 2005, Post-9/11 workplace discrimination continues, USA TODAY, July 5, 2005, online, http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-07-05-anti-arab-workplace_x.htm, p. 1 report says EEOC received 2,168 charges of discrimination based on an employee’s Muslim religion compared to 1,104 charges before the attacks. Elaasar (2004) also noted that reports on discrimination against Arab-Americans and Muslims in the workplace more than tripled after 9/11 (p.76). In schools, restaurants, and in other public places, survey shows 25% of the respondents suffered from negative comments and behaviors of teachers and administrators (CCHR 2003, p.12). Discrimination in housing (11%) also shows that rental agents or prospective property owners refused to rent the apartment the moment they found out their ethnicity. Some were even asked to move out of their apartments by their proprietors or roommates (CCHR 2003, p.12-13) In Europe, a paper launched by the Psychology Department of Leicester University in 2002 concluded that there have been increased experiences of discrimination against the British Muslim community after 9/11. The European Union Monitoring Centre (EUMC) on racism and xenophobia identified a report that there has been a significant rise in physical and verbal attacks on Muslims, as well as a heightened climate of discrimination after September 11, 2001 (Geaves 2004, p.126). On the other hand, Kayyali (2006) said that even after the initial backslash in the months following 9/11, statistics reflected higher levels of discrimination and hate crimes than in previous years, when U.S. military actions and incidents in the Middle East set off ethnically and religiously based reprisals (p.145). According to Driel (2004), previous research on hate crimes identified visibility as a Muslim to be the most important predictive factor of whether someone was the victim of an “Islamophobic attack”6 after 9/11. Along with the past living Presidents of the United States, President George Bush condemned hate crimes perpetrated against the life and property of Americans of Arabic ancestry and Muslims. In an effort to stop the violence, the Arab-American Bar Association of Illinois issued its preliminary report on Hate Crimes Against Arabs and Muslims. The President also dispatched the Director of the Federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission to major cities to invite Arab-Americans and Muslims to file job discrimination complaints. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was also ordered to canvass grass roots groups in the Middle Eastern/American community, inviting them to report discriminatory activity and hate crimes (Elaasar 2004, p.77). However, one thing that has become clear since September 11 is that American at large are much more tolerant of racial profiling than they were before the terrorist struck (Etzioni and Marsh 2003, p.55). Vigilantism by private citizens has had other ugly ramifications and at one point after 9/11, hate crimes against Muslim soared, rising more than 1500 percent7. Discrimination in the workplace also climbed and the number of complaints is so big that EEOC created a new category to tract acts of discrimination against Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian workers after 9/11 (Hing 2006, p.152). 6Barry Driel, 2004, Confronting Islamophobia in Educational Practice, Published 2004 Trentham Books, ISBN 1858563402, p.172 7 Figure is between September 11, 2001 and December 11, 2002, Bill Hing, 2006, Deporting Our Souls: Values, Morality, and Immigration Policy, Published 2006 Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521864925, p.152   iv. Evaluation Although the situations of Muslims in America or anywhere else in the Western hemisphere are divided in different categories, religion-based discriminations are generally widespread as statistics shows that these “hate crimes” are usually motivated or triggered by just being a “Muslim”. Furthermore, the enactment of new statutory provision to counter terrorism unreasonably affected Muslims and creating much wider zones of discretion resulting to partiality or discrimination. This is evident in the results of the survey conducted by different group where 26% of Muslims had experienced racial or ethnic profiling from government’s anti-terrorism campaign. Moreover, private discrimination at work, in school, and in the community is at 40% as the number of non-Muslims in favor of regulating the Muslim population increases. In an interview, more than half of American participants expressed their support to the American Muslims but a considerable 46% believed that Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religion. This is an indication that almost half of the Americans have a negative outlook of Islam and as the survey results reveals, 1 out of 4 of the respondents harbor discrimination towards Muslim and Arabs. However, despite harassments and violence against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians, no formal complaint was filed in the New York’s Human Rights Commission. On the other hand, most of the work related discrimination complaints were filed with the EEOC, which they say almost tripled after 9/11. These discrimination incidents and occurrence of “hate crimes” are also widespread in other parts of world. In the United Kingdom for instance, there have been reports of increased experiences of discrimination and a significant rise in physical and verbal attacks on the British Muslim community after 9/11. Again, research shows that being a Muslim is the most important predictive factor of whether someone was the victim of what is termed as an “Islamophobic attack”. Aware of the crimes perpetrated against the life and property of American Muslims or Americans with Arabic ancestry, the U.S. government encourages the Muslim community to report discriminatory activities and hate crimes. However, the September 11 terrorist attack unfortunately made the Americans much more in favor racial profiling as vigilantism soars and workplace discrimination increases. We cannot really tell when these discriminations will stop since the very government who condemned “hate crimes” is pursuing an anti-terrorism campaign that is evidently targeting Muslims. Furthermore, we cannot deny the fact that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack made the Western nation think that Islam is a menace to their democratic way of life thus being a Muslim alone induce discrimination and hate crimes. v. Recommendation Discrimination based on religion is undeniably a critical issue, which can be better address by the Muslim community itself. Condemning another Muslim’s murderous deeds is not sufficient to convince the Americans and other Westerners that Islam in particular is not a big threat to their lives. For instance, let us see the Muslims apprehend a “brother” terrorist and bring him to justice. Let us hear them shout the names of terrorists in their area or notify the police of their evil plot. For as long as the Americans believed that Islam teaches a Muslim to kill a non-believer, especially those whom they believed are obstacles to the propagation of Islam, discrimination and hate crimes will continue. Occurrences of discrimination maybe reduced as the law prohibits such acts but the hate remains and in due time, a more violent and severe attacks may occur. vi. Conclusion The extent of religion-based discrimination is far more widespread than what we expect since its apparently occurring whenever there are Muslims around, at work, in school, in the neighborhood, at the airport, and in other places where visibility of a Muslim may be possible. Generally, in almost every survey, a considerable number of respondents have a negative outlook of Islam and therefore discrimination based on religion is currently a significant concern in the Western society that requires a critical solution. vii. Bibliography ARMOUR Stephanie, 2005, Post-9/11 Workplace Discrimination Continues, USA TODAY, July 5, 2005, online, http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-07-05-anti-arab-workplace_x.htm CASELLAS Gilbert, 2005, The 9/11 Fallout: Ethnic and Religious Discrimination and Cultural Differences in the Workplace, Corporate Diversity Best Practices and Post- 9/11 Responses, National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law, March 23, 2005 La Jolla, California CCHR, 2003, Discrimination Against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians in New York City since 9/11, New York City Commission on Human Rights, New York City, online, http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/pdf/sur_report.pdf CNN, 2002, Airlines Face Post 9/11 Racial Profiling, Discrimination suits, June 4, 2002, New York, online, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/04 /airlines. discrimination /index.html CORNELL University Media & SOCIETY Research Group, 2004, MSRG Special Report: Restrictions on Civil Liberties, Views of Islam, and Muslim Americans, online, available at http://www.comm.cornell.edu/ msrg/report1a.pdf DEANE Claudia and FEARS Darryl, 2006, Negative Perceptions of Islam Increasing, Washington Post Mar. 9, 2006, online, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/08 /AR2006030802221.html. DRIEL Barry, 2004, Confronting Islamophobia in Educational Practice, Published 2004 Trentham Books, ISBN 1858563402 ELAASAR Aladdin, 2004, Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America, Published 2004 AuthorHouse, ISBN 1418410551 ETZIONI Amitai and MARSH Jason, 2003, Rights Vs. Public Safety After 9/11: America in the Age of Terrorism, Published 2003 Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0742527557 GEAVES Ron, 2004, Islam and the West Post 9/11, Published 2004 Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, ISBN 0754650057 GEORGETOWN University and ZOGBY International, 2004, Muslims in the American Public Square: Shifting Political Winds and Fallout from 9/11, online, available at http://www.projectmaps.com /AMP2004report.pdf; Press Release, Georgetown University, Georgetown Announces Release of 2004 American Muslim Poll (Oct. 19, 2004), available at http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=1310. HEYMANN Philip, 2006, Muslims in America after 9/11: The Legal Situation, Harvard Law School, online, http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/conferences/muslims/Heymann.pdf HING Bill, 2006, Deporting Our Souls: Values, Morality, and Immigration Policy, Published 2006 Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521864925 KAYYALI Randa, 2006, The Arab Americans, Published 2006 Greenwood Press, ISBN 0313332193 Pew FORUM on Religion & Public Life, 2005, Views of Muslim-Americans Hold Steady After London Bombings, online, available at http://pewforum.org/docs /index.php?DocID=89 Read More