Imagine a hard working woman in the United States with a job as a receptionist who supports two children aged five and six. She rents a house, supports her children, pays taxes and poses no threats, but she and her children are deemed as evil to authority and others in the United States. Why? Many view them as threats because they follow the Islamic religion. The Muslim woman and her children fled the civil war in Syria for asylum in America, but rather than continuous security and support in America; she faced deportation after Donald Trump announced his plans for Muslims in the United States. Trump's presidential campaign was notoriously named racist, sexist, and discriminatory against religion throughout his campaign because of the remarks …show more content…
Trump would make, but also comments said by people associating themselves with his campaign such as Carl Paladino. As a school board member from New York, Paladino stated that Michelle Obama should “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave” (Thomas, 2017). Around the same time, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” in 2015 that sent news outlets into a frenzy of racial and religious debates (Rafferty, 2015). What are the motives behind this statement? News stations like FOX News, NBC, and Democracy Now! reported on the racialization of Muslims by Trump's statement either in positive or negative manners by arguing that Trump wishes to secure the American borders to make America safer or arguing that his words and actions are racist since he was targeting Muslims in his statement. In response to Donald Trump's statement to stop Muslims from entering the United States, FOX News, a conservative news service, did not condemn Trump but agreed with his statement.
FOX reports were in favor of Trump's idea because it would make America more secure. Security of the nation is a significant factor to the FOX network as is evident in one article titled "Trump Doubles Down on Vow to Bar Muslims" by Christopher Snyder. In the article, Snyder backs up Trump's statement against Muslims by adding some context to the infamous remark. Snyder added phrases from Trump, such as "You're going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don't solve it -- many, many more and probably beyond the World Trade Center," aiming to take away some of the racializations behind Trumps' words (Snyder, 2015). Another article from FOX written by Dana Blanton, argues that the attack in San Bernardino, California that killed fourteen people was the motive for Trump to make these statements as the couple who carried out the attack were Muslim (Blanton, 2015). This addition to the news article promotes the idea that Trump's proposed policy would do well at reducing terrorism by Muslims. Lastly, in a FOX interview with Bill O'Reilly, Donald Trump said the ban on Muslims entering the United States "is about security, it's not about religion" (Trump Says Vow, 2015). From this, it appears that FOX News does also racialize Muslims by assuming that most are inherently terrorists wishing to harm …show more content…
the United States and its citizens. It is clear that FOX News does promote national security and does not view Trumps’ proposal as troublesome. Overall, FOX does understand there are race relation issues in the United States but sees that it is present due to the understanding some people lack about the potential ban. NBC News, a more liberal news source, sees the response from Trump about attacks carried out by Muslims to be the most dramatic response in years. An NBC article by Andrew Rafferty discusses the proposed ban by including endless quotes from politicians and celebrities that are profoundly opposed to the idea of banning Muslims until the United States perfects its security measures. Carly Fiorina told NBC that not letting "a single Muslim into this country is a dangerous overreaction" and the article also includes a tweet from Jeb Bush that states "Donald Trump is unhinged" (Rafferty, 2015). In another article written by Karine Jean-Pierre for NBC Think, Pierre discusses the racism behind Trump's statement on the Muslim ban idea but fails to mention the possibility of other reasons for the proposed policy other than racism. She states, "the only thing that differentiates Trump from many of his Republican allies is that he is willing to name the source of his motivations aloud, and often in public, whereas many Republicans in Congress would rather pander to the white supremacist anti-immigrant movement while pretending that’s not what their policy positions are about" (Jean-Pierre, 2018). Lastly, Pete Williams of NBC wrote an article that discussed the skepticism of the ban that would restrict travel of Muslims by included a quote from Omar Jadwat of the American Civil Liberties Union. Jadwat said, "the intelligence agency in the Department of Homeland Security said the order would not reduce terrorism" (Williams, 2016). Overall, NBC is overtly opposed to Trump's ideology and tends to back up their responses with humane reasoning of the affected as opposed to the possible effectiveness of this proposal in reducing terrorism. By Trump making that statement, NBC is describing that Trump is racializing Muslims by associating all Muslims with terrorism. Since NBC's argument opposing Trump is mainly focused on ethical reasoning, it is clear to see that NBC does spot a significant race relation problem within the United States that is centered around Trump's speech and candidacy. Democracy Now!, a more liberal sided news source also focuses on the humanitarian issues that come with this ban. Democracy Now! presents the facts of the story but disproves of the plan by supplying condemning statements from officials. In one article from Democracy Now!, titled "Donald Trump Calls for Total Ban on Muslims Entering the United States," the author writes that Obama was "calling for the nation to reject Islamophobia in the wake of the San Bernadino shootings, which Obama called an act of terror" (Donald Trump Calls for Total Ban, 2015). In another article, by Democracy Now! called "Obama Blasts Trump's Call for Banning Muslims from Entering U.S.," it includes a quote by Barack Obama in which he says "We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence" (Obama Blasts Trump’s Call, 2016). We can see from these articles that Democracy Now! is less motivated by the implications this could cause and mainly focused on the sole racism behind the words of Donald Trump as is evident in a third article. In a third article titled "Amid Firestorm, Donald Trump Defends Call to Ban Muslim Immigrants" states that "Trump defended his proposal by comparing it to the detention of Japanese Americans, Germans and Italians under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II" (Amid Firestorm, 2015). In all, Democracy Now! mainly provides short news stories with facts but does include some phrasing that suggests it opposes Trump's ideologies. Democracy Now! indicates now that Trump is racist, but more particularly Islamophobic since Trumps' proposed ban targets explicitly Muslims individuals. Through these articles, Democracy Now! makes race relations seem a little unstable and comparable to the many past race relations in the United States that were held with the majority and minorities such as Italians and Mexicans. The racialization of Muslims by Trump is apparent and understandably heartbreaking to some as it is impossible for one entire race to be filled with entirely evil people wishing to harm Americans.
Despite this, Trump’s point is strong since his best interest is the security of the United States. He was unsure of how precisely to target the Muslims wishing to harm Americans, so he called for a shutdown until he could create tighter security controls for the borders of America. It is smart to stop and rethink solutions for a problem rather than continue with the problem and take a chance of things becoming worse. Overall, mediality has a lot do with how people view Donald Trump as “‘mediality’ (media accounts of events) is often a distorted mirror of events” (Markus & Moya, 2010). Before the 2016 election race relations seemed to be okay, but as a result of this distorted image people are given about the discrimination against individual races in the United States, the state of race relations in America seems to be getting worse. There has always been some tension between all races, and there will continue to be, but recently there has been an uproar of protests. This is very much so because of Trumps’ ideologies and wishes for the United States as president, but also because of how the media alters headlines to make them more shocking. Trump is unforgiving and very public about his ideas, and this is something that the nation has not seen in a while. This is because it is
stunning for a high authority figure to be blunt and to racialize some people of the world for security reasons. So, as a rebuttal, many citizens of the United States and even some from other countries, did highly oppose Trumps’ proposed plan for Muslims and showed it through protest. Now, these protests, some of which turn violent, are causing more tension between races than there was before the 2016 presidential election. With this said, it is clear to see that race relations have gotten significantly worse after the most recent election.
Imagine being discriminated anyplace you went, with glares from many and you haven’t done anything to receive those judgments. Muslim Americans in the U.S. have to deal with that discrimination every day post the events that happened on 9/11. Some take drastic measures such as changing their birth name, in hopes that they can avoid being judged by others. Muslim teenager Alisha, told her story that while visiting Six Flags with her family, an American man yelled at her father with the racial comment, “F**k you Osama!” She would also get asked offensive questions, like if she hated Jews too. People who engage in relationships with someone from the Muslim population are harassed for having a romantic affiliation with someone who they would call a “terrorist”. Along with getting called horrific names, many have become objects of suspicion.
The way Muslims have been treated after the 9/11 incident is very different than before. Before 9/11 there was certainly some discrimination towards Muslim Americans, but after the attacks happened, between the years 2000 and 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). “While trying to adapt to the outcome of 9/11, Muslim Americans dealt with an increase in negative stereotypes spoken by the common culture, and Muslim immigrants faced more negative attitudes than any other immigrant group” (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). Since the 9/11 attacks, people who dress with a substantial resemblance to Muslims worry about the upcoming hatred and unfriendliness from people of other ethnicities (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). While listening to the media, one can hear reports of negative stereotypes towards people who resemble the Muslim religion, which may be assumed that these people are violent. Negative attitudes that Muslim Americans experience may have detrimental effects on their success in America and their success of achieving the American Dream.
Powell, Brian. "Fox News' Racial Crime Coverage Is Hurting People." Media Matters for America. Media Matters for America, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 May 2014.
The author expressed, “Kathy had not wanted their family to become collateral damage in a war that had no discernible fronts, no real shape, and no rules” (252). Both Kathy, a converted Muslim, and Zeitoun, a born Muslim, knew what the future looked like in terms of discrimination and inequality. The idea of islamophobia is so open to different interpretations, and the fight against it has not yet accomplished all of the goals. The war against Islamophobia, as well as other discriminatory debates, has shown to be a dirty one. Many opinions are gathered and slurs are formed, which make immigrating as a Muslim very difficult. America is known as the land of the free, but for many families of the Muslim faith, it does not always feel that
Because of widespread accusations of terrorism and the general fear that Muslims are terrorists and the entire religion is at fault, Muslims are being treated like they’re less than human. Similarly, Jews were treated like they were less than human because many German citizens blamed their struggles on Jewish people. The only difference is that America hasn’t mass murdered millions of Muslim citizens, at least not yet. I am by no means saying that America will have a neo-Holocaust with Muslim people, but there are far too many similarities in the treatment of these people simply because of their religions. During his run for president, Donald Trump proposed a total ban on Muslims entering the United States. He also suggested that Muslims turn in other Muslims for acting suspiciously, and that all Muslims enter a national registry and wear some sort of identification. This is terrifyingly similar to what Adolf Hitler ordered of the Jewish people living in Germany, including the infamous yellow star that Jews had to
Following 9/11 individuals who have ties to the Middle East have been scrutinized. “Muslims have endured alarming rates of prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes.”(Amer&Bagarsa,2013). According to Amer hate crimes against Muslim Americans have significantly increased since 9/11 to the point of being “the most prevalent hate crime taking place on American soil.” (Amer&Bagarsa,2013). “The racialization of an ‘Arab-Middle Eastern-Muslim’ Other has been constituted by a dual process of cultural racism and the racialization of national origin… This solidified the racial
“The beauty of me is that I am very rich” according to Donald Trump. His ignorance has lead him to do things that he shouldn’t being doing or has done. In the past few months he has been racist man that would insult people that are from a different race. When Trump started running for president he would insult and bully everybody in general not knowing the people’s stories. He made people seem like they are poor and have nothing to live for, Trump’s inability to see past his greed. He wants to separate the United States and wants people to think he is the best of the best; Trump should not be President.
Islam has influenced many cultures around the world. For centuries, Islam has had an immense influence on the Afghan culture. According to this religion, women have no rights. The men took advantage of this system by translating only what they wanted from the Koran; to enslave the women in our culture for their own desires. From the beginning, the women on no account had any civil rights or have power over their own lives, and most were uneducated and had accepted what their teachers taught in schools and mosques. My family moved to the US when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. I thank god to be one of the lucky women who did not have to live in Afghanistan and for giving me a better place to live in America. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the majority of the Afghan women. Under the cruel Taliban government the women were banned to work, and were not allowed outside their homes without being escorted by a man. The film Osama, inspired by a true story, is about Osama, a young girl who did lived in Kabul while the Taliban regime. Through Osama's story, I had a chance to see what it was like to live in Afghanistan as a woman. This is a story of a girl whose faith was in the hands of many different people: her family, the Taliban soldiers, and the city judge. Osama and I have different lives on different continents; however, we both could have had more rights and better life if we were born men.
...his race talk has to come with a large amount of bias. I believe that ethnic controversy has always been a means to separate us. I feel that way because people have made it the way it is. The United states in commonly referred to as a melting pot however, the darker your skin the further to the burner you fall. We cannot blame one country individually but the human race as a whole for creating something so depurating. The human race, collectively, has attempted to fix the race issue around the world multiple times but there are always counterparts who disagree or simply think they are the superiors. It is kind of disappointing to still see that this type of collective hatred still appears all over the world today. I do not think the issues will not die down anytime soon, especially after all of this time. I guess it is true what they say. History does repeat itself.
...lim violence mentioned in class lectures include a taxi cab driver in NYC who identified himself as a Muslim and was shot dead by the passenger, four pieces of construction equipment was destroyed at a future mosque site in Tennessee also in Tennessee, a pipe bomb went off in a mosque in Jacksonville killing somewhere around 60 people. This is only a few example of the many hate crimes committed against Muslims in the United States. Muslims not only face hate crimes in the U.S., but all over the world today which is particularly disturbing in the U.S. which has a Constitution that states all citizens are free to practice their own religion, but clearly as of late, this is not true for Muslim Americans.
Mr. Diaz goes on about the presidential speech, Donald had that week, then Donald repeats his thoughts over Mexicans. He then comments about the possibilities of terrorists coming to the US from the Mexican border, that it could be possible, especially looking at the situations that could happen like 9/11. As a politician, he should have more of the information on hand than those in the lower class or Tv News. When you think of situations, it could be a possibility, yet 9/11 isn’t sufficient enough to become an example that could happen. The terrorist that came to destroy the peace, came with permission (VISA) from the country. There was no need to come through the border we have come to a time where there is an easier path than using the border to come pass by and kill thousands of people. Donald Trump has been looking at the negative things about Latinos, however, hasn’t looked at the important situations. Gay equality has just become approved this year, and now he wants to start another conflict with the people of this country. Even in the year 2015, we still have the problem of looking at colored people differently. Racial Equality, a common thing we still have marched for even though it has been years since it became established. Congress has voted for equality (Equal Rights Amendment), yet why do we see people like Donald Trump still going against other ethnicity? The marches are still going on, people are still standing up, yet nothing has changed. Even people who are non-Latinos could become affected with remarks Trump says. If Donald, who has no sense in accepting Hispanics, may have similar feelings with another race. Removing undocumented doesn’t only mean Mexicans, but others as well, such as Asian, Cubans, and Central American People (Guatemalans, Salvadorans
Muslims should be banned from entering the United States and we should have a database to track every American Muslim” (Healy). This recent statement by the Presidential candidate, Donald Trump asserts that Islamophobia in the United States is not a myth. Islamophobia is a serious issue which distresses many Muslims in the United States today. Thus, creating tension between Muslims and many fellow Americans leading to hate crimes, stereotypes, and inhumanity. This phenomenon is one which was created by Radical Islam and given life by the media.
Islam is a monotheistic religion, centered around the teachings of the Qu’ran and serving Allah (meaning God in Arabic). However, this Abrahamic religion has been harshly discriminated against in the United States for years. Most prominently throughout the last twelve years, post September 11th, 2001. Unfortunately, issues such as socialization through the media, power distribution, religious ignorance, stereotyping and visible differences have contributed to the ill attitudes towards Muslims. This paper will examine how Americans have been socialized in islamophobia within the United States.
“Even without incidents of violence, mass media stroke fears of terrorism by reporting hugely inflated estimates of alleged threats” (Kurzman 15). This also relates to the United States and how they used film and media to put fear into the community during World War II. CNN’s senior media correspondent Brian Stelter covered this topic on a debate segment of -Red News Blue News titled “Does the Media Promote Islamophobia”. Stelter begins the segment by touching on how Islam is manifested in the media to cause exaggerated fear and hostility toward Muslims, perpetuated by negative stereotypes. He gives different examples of this. For instance, Tom Shillue (stand-up comedian) stating on Fox’s The Five that if there is a moderate Muslim voice “out there” now is the time to speak up and Sean Hannity calling a “Jihad rising worldwide”. This not only shows how one with no credentials can input their outlandish views on a national platform, but also displays an exaggeration of the problem being discussed. Later in the segment, guest co-host Brigitte Gabriel is introduced to soon give a false statistic that 25% of all Muslims are radicalized, once more proving the buffoonery being fed by present day
Religion is big here in the states and is one of the things that this country was founded on. Views on good and evil here while may not be extreme, are very looked down on publicly varying on many factors such as location, and factors such as race. One religion I have noticed that is practiced around me that I do not practice is Islam. Here in America it is easy to stigmatize those that practice the Islamic faith just because in the past terroristic behavior and political violence (Fine, 2015). To be fair, every religion has in some way been associated to some type of terroristic behavior, and just because one practices that certain religion does not mean that the whole religion itself should be scrutinized for those actions alone.