Comparison of Two Targeted Communities - Essay Example

Comparison of Two Targeted Communities “Community” has always been a question of discrepancy through the years. Issues relating to communal problem or communal atrocities are very common. We come to know about the fear of existence within the Arab and the Muslim communities prevalent after the attack of 9/11. They were in fact the most embattled section of the population which demanded immediate attention of the government of America. Though they were part of the nation but their survival was often a matter of doubt. Their integrity and solidarity was always interrogated. Especially “the immigrants” faced the backlog. This had deliberately resulted in dual-notions. On one hand, people were so petrified that they grew concern regarding their mistaken identity and on the other hand they were not even given the permission to lament or bewail the well-being of their counterparts. They witnessed twofold crisis : as “an American” and as “Arab Americans”. The defendant raised voice such as “Why us?” (Bakalian & Bozorgmehr, 171) The effects of the attack on America had a disastrous impact on the normal lives of the Arabs and the Muslim community. They were traumatized to the extreme. Symptoms of nightmares, continuous crying, depression and lack of sleep, were generated by the “trauma” as known to the health professionals (Bakalian & Bozorgmehr, 171-172). The situation became more intense especially for “Middle Eastern” and “Muslim Americans”. Though years have passed after 9/11 attacks, still they are living in a tense situation which is very much prevalent, coupled by the surrounding of “war” be it a war against Afghanistan or Iraq. However these emotional factors have a repercussion on the social well-being too which in term restricts their day-to-day activities as well as their lives (Bakalian & Bozorgmehr, 172). Previously, there was and till date a huge wall of incongruity in the governmental policies which proved to be biased regarding the right to “protection of the innocent against crime” and the confrontation of “terrorism”. People who were secluded from the nation were called as “detainees” who were bound to leave behind their commitment to family. In their absence their family was made to suffer certain levels of subjugation and humiliation from the government officials. The attacks of 9/11 were generally meant for people those who wanted to regain power over the “legislature” and “the judiciary”. And perhaps the most major effect was the poignant uproar (Bakalian & Bozorgmehr, 163). The Pearl Harbor attack by the Imperial Japanese was a matter of utter shock and surprise. The attack was mainly an approach to catch the attention of the sluggish American despite innumerable forewarning from Washington. War between Japan and America was foreseen for decades. It was inevitable that they can never live in terms with each other. But America never ever realized the potential of an Asian power namely Japan (Daniels, 22). Weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor and pronouncement of war against US by Germany and Italy, the Department of Justice caged out some three thousand adversary as unknown. And around half of them were Japanese. As a result of such consequence, the government took deliberate attempt by apprehending many of the influential including officials of organization and people who were clearly evident of having links with Japanese embassy and consulates. Disparate their German and Italian equivalent Japanese migrants were considered unknown since American law banned their naturalism. Although these policies were meant for “aliens” only but it was also became applicable for the citizens of Japanese origin (Daniels, 26-27). However betrayal and duplicity were claimed to be inherent armaments of the Japanese. The press and the airways were overflowing with stories based on assumptions that the security of the nation was endangered until and unless the Japanese Americans were caged in deliberation camps (Daniels, 34). The Japanese children had difficulty learning lessons in schools because of language barrier and had to face ridicule and humiliation. Their status in school forced them to feel shameful of their own heritage, and often they pleaded with their parents not to send them back to school (Otsuka, 72). For many days the Japanese families locked themselves inside their homes and even removed all trace of their identity by erasing names from mailboxes. They faced daily inconveniences as their telephone wires were cut and documents seized (Otsuka, 81-82). All adversary space invaders were to be re-registered, photographed and fingerprinted for the sake of the Department of Justice. This official documentation was done to facilitate the army in setting up a “pass and permit” system (Daniels, 34). No favourism was done while sorting a registrant based on his race, creed, color or his involvement in any labor, political, religious or other organization. Each one of them was entitled to equivalent and reasonable impartiality. Japan preceded Germany and Italy in the list of priority based on “danger”. However the Pacific Coast prevails to remain an area of attack for the Japanese navy (Daniels, 45). Detention and Deportation were used as tools of immigration policy. The government proclaims that over one million authorized enduring occupants and non-documented immigrants were banished since 1996. Years after Law gained power to the access that all immigrants found liable to crime or offence had to be punished and they had to fully serve the time period as allocated and no mercy was done to them. Ultimately the USA Patriot Act gave the government unparalleled authority to restrain non-citizens. If a judge was found having links with immigrants, his release order could be poised. A methodical movement brushed off through the migrant vicinity and outside of New York City which resulted in the seizing of thousands of non-citizens. It was almost impractical to point out the numbers by the government so the dependence was held on community organizers for gathering information and lawful aid. Many calls were received since 9/11 attacks through which many people were taken into custody and restrained. News was also gathered about arrests which were held without legal warrant and authentic ID proof and despite this fact FBI or INS simply walked down the lane in their investigation (Fernandes, 76-77). An official warrant was given for each and every non-citizens from assured Arab and Muslim nations to schedule with government which was another dubious strategy, imposed on migrant men after 9/11 attack and a lot of them were sent to prison straight away without prior notice. It included men from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq and so on. This very policy started to cause disaster on the existence of scores of people from corner to corner of the country. Migrant communities throughout the nation began to account tales of horror associated with mass arrest of men who were about to register as per government laws. Families were torn apart and communities were confounded as a consequence of the arrest of those men. Families were thus made to brood the loss of their men who never returned back as a result of the immigration policy. Several men who obeyed the rules and regulations of the country had to pass months within the cell and had minute hope of liberation or transportation. Since the attacks of 9/11, cities around the country authorized their state and local law imposition officials to provide with immigration cops due to severe federal force. The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Centre (FIAC) was there at the vanguard of the battle to safeguard local police from interrogating individuals regarding their migration status (Fernandes, 79-81). This has remained to be the main concern especially in cities like New York and Los Angeles which had innumerable number of migrants. Migrants from Bosnia and Albania were relocated in St. Louis. Whereas migrants of Mexico and Central America were there in St. Louis for many long years taking benefit from the recurrent work visas which allowed individuals to normalize their position. Some centers of custody were even shoddier than their counterparts as was in the case of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn were community organizers were received with awful news of maltreatment which resulted in holding of weekly vigilance outside cells. A government investigation validated these exploitations by saying that detainees suffered a severe blow in the hands of the cell guards who proved brutal for them. Basically 90% of migrant were hold back by the fact that they go for trials without significant lawyers (Fernandes, 90). Advocates of Human rights claimed that the government cannot restrain a person for an uncertain period since the nation that acknowledged them could not be traced (Fernandes, 92). Transportation of nationals from Mexico and the Caribbean indicated the volume of those being detached from the United States. Caribbean nations in fact found it complicated to gel with the rising flow of migrants from the US (Fernandes, 102). Ultimately, the banished had to depart leaving behind their reliant namely children, spouses, parents and several loved ones. Many of them had no alternate other than leaving US and the authority to survive with their transported family members, a compelling notion that is hardly given any consideration (Fernandes, 109) America can proudly claim itself to be an industrialized nation where people and conglomerate are notable for producing money. Many migrants were brought to the US with a dream that assures contentment gained through accretion of capital. However more shocking are the ways in which migrants and non-citizens are becoming targets of nation’s capitalistic craving (Fernandes, 169). The Academe and Policy Research Senior Advisory Committee (APRSAC) became the reason for homeland security policy (Fernandes, 173). Serious apprehensions are made regarding the capability of the technology to recognize people properly and the catalogue is filled with mistakes. A desirable raise was seen in the migrant cell populace after the modification in the immigration laws of 1996 (Fernandes, 193). The very term Community is fundamental in comprehending how people develop a sense of property, uniqueness and significance in their lives. In the current scenario of Japanese American community one aspect of fitting in engages in knowing what happened in the ancient times (Ng, 103). Pakistan was often identified as main supporter of US in the battle scheduled on fear and also a reproduction soil meant for revolutionaries like Osama bin Laden. Barely thousands of banished people winded up leaving the nation behind during the episode between 1980 and 1990 and moving abroad to Europe and the United States (Nguyen, 5). There were more than three lakh immigrants from Somali who were existent in UN campsite in twelve nations across the globe. Migrant camps in Kenya are the most widespread hording over one lakh forty thousand immigrants of Somali origin. Intimidation in fact would find a brooding ground in Somalia, a nation which was quite ungovernable (Nguyen, 27). References 1. Bakalian, Anny & Mehdi Bozorgmehr. Backlash 9/11: Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans respond, Univ. of California, 2009 2. Daniels, Roger. Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004 3. Fernandes, Deepa. Targeted: Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration, Seven Stories Press, 2011 4. Ng, Wendy L. “The Collective Memories of Communities.” 103-112. In Asian Americans: comparative and global perspectives, edited by Shirley Hune. Washington State Univ. Press, 1991 5. Nguyen, Tram. We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities After 9/11, Beacon Press, 2005 6. Otsuka, Julie. The Buddha in the Attic, UK: Penguin, 2012 Read More