Executive Order 13769, which is also referred to as Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States. At face value it seems like a good order, stopping people who want to do harm to this nation and the people of the nation from entering. The problem with this Executive Order was it primarily targeted Muslim individuals from entering this country. This is just the most recent of the large-scale attacks on the Muslim community simply due to their religious beliefs. But not only did the holder of the highest office in this nation ban Muslims from entering this country soon after being sworn in,
years of hate crimes and other form of pure hatred have been afflicted upon this community. This article will look at a series of instances of islamophobia in this nation and how this form of religious discrimination not only goes against everything the United States was built on, but also providing a clearer picture of the situation and provide perspective to help understand why this is happening.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..” (Cornell) This is the first sentence of the United States’ Bill of Rights, yet the Executive Order that was mentioned at the beginning of this article is, in a way, breaking this. This order stops people from entering our country simply due to their religion. Recently during the past few weeks this course has been taking a deep look at immigration and how truly difficult it can be to assimilate in a new country. So, having an order banning other people who are similar to oneself can increase the difficulty for assimilation. This order banned pe
ople from seven very heavily populated Muslim countries from coming to the United States for 90 days, completly banned the entrance of any Syrian refugees and also banned any other refugees from entering this country for 120 days. (ACLU) This was one of the most drastic steps take in recent history to stop Muslims from entering the United States. Although this ban was one of the most drastic steps, life for a Muslim in the United States was not very good before this. As shown in the image to the left in the United States 52% of people say no they do not respect Muslims. Along with this lack of respect the Pew Research Center reported that 48% of Muslims have said to experience at least one form of discrimination in the past year (Pew Research Center). Adding the fact that a ban was placed on them, they lack respect, and almost half of Muslim people have experienced discrimination, equates to a systemic injustice towards this group simply due to this religion.
There are thousands of religions practiced all around the world, which begs the question why people are so fear stricken by the Muslim community, leading to a ban. One might say the attacks on September 11th caused this fear of people who practice the Islamic religion, but these were just 19 people out of a religion of 1.8 billion people. But as seen through history the Catholic church has waged crusades against many different types of groups including Muslims, and killed many, yet people don’t associate the Catholic Church with terrorism. This can be explained by implicit biases. Although both religions have had people do bad things, the public perception of Catholics is just much different then Muslims, which leads to the
increased hate towards the Muslim community.
This fear and hatred of Islamic people is a real issue in todays world. So, let’s look at the factors that have caused this fear. One of the main reasons of fear is due to radicalization of people in are a part of the Islamic religion. This racialization in the Islamic faith is real but it is very small but does ultimately cause a negative view towards all Muslims. Another reason why people have a deep-rooted, sometimes subconscious, fear is due to the belief that Christians and or white people are considered the One, while the rest of people are considered the Other. This concept is that one group is better than the other and looks down upon that group. With that being said, the application of this concept to this situation helps provide a better understanding of why this is occurring. Another reason why this group faces hate is due to the sociology theory of internalization. This is the idea of hearing or learning about something and accepting it as your own beliefs. The most recent example is when President Trump banned Muslims and conveyed the rhetoric that Muslims are dangerous. Due to the fact that he is the President, people listen to what he says. This negative rhetoric towards the Islamic community led people to fear Muslims. When looking at this issue of hate and fear towards the Muslim community another reason this is still an issue in today’s society is implicit bias. Although some people might not go out and commit hate crimes, these implicit biases towards the Muslim community lead to the continued systemic injustice towards them.
After looking at a few reasons why this group is feared, let’s try and understand that they are not as different as everyone else. In the paragraph above it was mentioned that one of the driving causes of fear towards Muslims is due to the fact that, within part of this religious group, some are radical. This is very similar to the fact that the Ku Klux Klan and their members predominantly are a part of Christianity, yet Christians do not face backlash due to this small group of people who are extremist. (Brown, 2020) The notion that Muslim people are all violent and terrorist is also incorrect. Actually, 93% of Muslims do not support extremist views of terrorism (encounteringislam.org) Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic scholar and preacher, says, “I would like to make it very clear that any terrorist activity, no matter by whom it is carried out or for what purpose, is the greatest blow to peace, democracy, and humanity. For this reason, no one—and certainly no Muslim—can approve of any terrorist activity. Terror has no place in a quest to achieve independence or salvation. It takes the lives of innocent people.”(North Carolina) This is just one of many examples of Muslim leaders and other people who follow the Islamic faith who have spoke out and condoned terrorism. This shows a majority of Muslims are against extremism, but since a few are extremist, it has caused the whole community to be perceived with a negative connotation in people’s eyes. The average Muslims have the most to lose when it comes to terrorism because it sets them back in their communities and opens the door to more hate crimes inflicted upon their community.
Many people are fearful that people in the Muslim community will hurt them in some way but in recent history it seems to be trending in the opposite direction. An article in the New York Times which cited a study done at California State University, San Bernardino showed that hate crimes towards Muslims in the United States increased 78% through the year 2015. (Bhutta, 2019) Also between 2012 and 2018 there were 763 separate incidents of some type of crime directed towards a member of the Islamic community. (NewAmerica.org) According to Vox, in 2016 26% of the hate crimes were intimidation, 24% were assault, and then 41% were property crimes. (Lopez,2017) And most of this hate towards Muslims can be traced back to 9/11 but has been amplified by President Trumps ban. According to Muslim Public Affairs Council before 9/11 Muslim hate c
rimes were the second least reported, but after 9/11 it saw a 1600% increase and became the second highest reported hate crime. (Statistics) One crime by 19 people who associated with this religion has had lasting effects on how they are viewed and treated to this day. Although some view this group as one of terror in reality this group faces more hate on a daily basis. Simply due to a handful of extremists, this religious community faces hate although they have done nothing to deserve it and were even banned from entering the United States.
Throughout this column it has been seen that there is clear and obvious systemic injustice towards people in the Muslim community due to a few extremists. And has continued to grow with negative rhetoric leading to Islamophobic to continue in the United States. So, after all this information how do we fix it? The solution is very basic: treat others with kindness and respect. The Quran says, “Allah commands you to uphold justice and to do good to others and to give to the relatives” and the Bible says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you”. And even if you aren’t religious the golden rule is treat others how you want to be treated. Everyone’s different but it is those differences that makes everyone so special. So, although the solution might seem corny, it really comes down to respecting others and being kind. The time has come to put our difference aside and come together as one, because at the end of the day we are all a part of the same human race, and that is all that should matter.
Works Cited
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Bhutta, Osama. How to End Anti-Muslim Bigotry After Christchurch Attacks. 22 Mar. 2019, time.com/5556701/christchurch-mosque-attacks-beating-islamophobia/.
Brown, Shannon. “The KKK Is a Christian Organization.” Medium, Medium, 30 Sept. 2020, medium.com/@brown.shannonelizabeth/the-kkk-is-a-christian-organization-b4e994b0bba1.
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Lichtblau, Eric. “Hate Crimes Against American Muslims Most Since Post-9/11 Era.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Sept. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/us/politics/hate-crimes-american-muslims-rise.html?auth=login-email.
Lopez, German. “A New FBI Report Says Hate Crimes – Especially against Muslims – Went up in 2016.” Vox, Vox, 13 Nov. 2017, www.vox.com/identities/2017/11/13/16643448/fbi-hate-crimes-2016.
Muslim Code of Behaviour, www.muslim.org/islam/int-is7.htm.
“Statistics.” Muslim Public Affairs Council, www.mpac.org/programs/hate-crime-prevention/statistics.php.
“Timeline of the Muslim Ban.” ACLU of Washington, 10 Feb. 2020, www.aclu-wa.org/pages/timeline-muslim-ban.
“U.S. Muslims Concerned About Their Place in Society, but Continue to Believe in the American Dream.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 30 May 2020, www.pewforum.org/2017/07/26/findings-from-pew-research-centers-2017-survey-of-us-muslims/.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Islamic Statements Against Terrorism – Charles Kurzman, kurzman.unc.edu/islamic-statements-against-terrorism/.
Photos:
“Allyship for Transatlantic Leaders: Focus on Islamophobia.” The German Marshall Fund of the United States, 17 Feb. 2020, www.gmfus.org/blog/2020/02/13/allyship-transatlantic-leaders-focus-islamophobia.
History.com Editors. “Islam.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 5 Jan. 2018, www.history.com/topics/religion/islam.
“U.S. Muslims Concerned About Their Place in Society, but Continue to Believe in the American Dream.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 30 May 2020,
“We Are Not All in This Together, but We Need to Be.” Gazette, 9 Nov. 2020, www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2020/06/05/We-are-not-all-in-this-together-but-we-need-to-be/stories/202006030109.