Loading ...The State of Arab Americans and Muslims 15 Years After 9/11
BY: Zane Ziebell/Contributing Writer
Almost every American can remember what they were doing on the morning of September 11th, 2001. People were in school, at work, or just waking up to a new day as planes hijacked by al-Qaeda members crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Shortly after, a third plane descended into the Pentagon in Washington DC. The nightmare continued as a fourth plane was downed in Pennsylvania before it could hit another building.
As the smoke filled the sky in Washington and ashes came down like rainfall in New York, a layer of darkness and fear began to blanket the United States. The world would be forever changed after these tragic events that claimed nearly 3,000 innocent lives. Americans were all shocked and confused after the events of 9/11, but today, tragedies of a different kind continue, as violence and racism towards Arab Americans and Muslims plague the communities.
In the months after the attacks, the FBI reported an alarming 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against American Muslims from 2000 to 2001. For Arab American and Muslims children, the playground was transformed into a battleground as name-calling and verbal abuse gave way to physical assault and violence. Even today, tensions remain high as events, such as 9/11 and the rise of ISIL, have made it difficult for Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian Americans to live their normal lives.
Weeks after 9/11, Congress quickly passed the Patriot Act to help domestic and international law enforcement agencies crack down on terrorism and terrorist suspects. As a result of this sweeping legislature, the civil liberties and freedoms that many Americans enjoyed were greatly infringed upon. No one was more affected than Arab Americans and Muslims. Legalized discrimination was subsequently created with the Patriot Act, which still exists today within federal law enforcement agencies.
Fifteen years on, people still look twice when they hear someone speak Arabic in public.
On February 10, 2015, one of the worst hate crimes in recent history took place when 3 Arab American college students were shot dead in their home by their neighbor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There was no clear motive other than the victims were Muslim.
Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Sudanese American from Irving, Texas, took center stage in the media after he created a homemade clock that his teacher mistook for a bomb in September of 2015.
Ahmed al-Menhali, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates, was arrested at gunpoint in Ohio last July for speaking Arabic in the lobby of a hotel, and the list goes on.
Most recently, Khalid Jabara was gunned down by his neighbor in Tulsa, Oklahoma who, for years, spewed anti-Arab hate towards the Jabara family.
Although we are all equal in our intellectual capacities, it seems that a portion of American society has given way to hatred and bigotry without questioning the ideas and conceptualizations that have been constructed after 9/11. Fear and trepidation have helped to create a generic and negative version of the Arab world, Arab heritage, and Islam in the eyes of many. Many members of society have accepted these generalizations as truth, without question, thus undermining the values and freedoms that America stands for.
American society and culture has changed the lives of every Arab and Muslim American since 9/11. It has forced Arab Americans to change their normal behavior, stand on edge in certain situations, and fear their privacy is being violated. The events of 9/11 were a tragedy for all Americans and 15 years on, it is still unacceptable to deny the harsh realities that Arab Americans and Muslims have been forced to endure as a result.
Arab America remembers this momentous and tragic act of terrorism in this 15th anniversary of its occurrence. And we stand up for those Arab Americans, Muslims, Sikhs, and South Asian Americans who faced bullying, unjust hate, and violence as a result of the attacks.