In recent months, President Trump has signed various executive orders many of which have been deemed highly controversial by his constituents. In particular, the travel ban has caused uproar from enraged democrats and human rights activists alike. The bill, which was signed January 27th, 2017, would inhibit citizens from six predominately muslim countries from immigrating to the United States, reverting us into the isolationist mentally prior to World War I. Consequently, the mentality behind this arrises from the negative stigma that all muslims originate from terrorist prone areas and that, “ It protects the nation from foreign terrorist entry to the United States”(whitehouse.gov). Unfortunately, this executive order has specifically targeted …show more content…
They often generalize muslims as threats to their safety. However, only a small portion of violence in the United States is carried out by Muslims. According to Gallup polling, “160 Muslim-American terrorist suspects and perpetrators in the decade since 9/11”(gallop). Moreover, the small percentage of attacks that have occurred by Muslim-American citizens is completely drowned out by the thousands of violent acts committed per year. In spite of this evidence, media outlets highlight the attacks by these muslim extremists and give the terrorist cells the notoriety that is indirectly producing a collective punishment toward all Muslims. To make matters worse, political discourse over this subject supplements this already roaring fire of islamapobia. During the elections Donald Trump used islampohbia to his advantage and campaigned on the promise of making America safer. Now that President Trump has won the election he is following through on his campaign promises. As a result, current policy change over immigration has produced unwanted aggression toward muslim americans. For instance, Trump’s audacious speeches over the total and complete shut down of immigration of war zone refuges has fueled his supporters racial stigmas toward muslims and has created a “get out of my country” mentality. In many cases, his followers often support these negative stigmas because of normative …show more content…
Muslim- Americans struggle with day to day prejudice and face discrimination on a regular basis. Hate crimes toward Muslims, as stated before, increased “1,700 percent” after the world trade center fell. Consequently, Muslims kids were effected the worst. In a survey done by the LA times, it was found that “55% of the muslim students surveyed, said they've been bullied or discriminated against. The data presented is staggering and shows the importance of this issue. It has also been recognized that many muslims who are victims of these hate crimes, develop severe mental disorders; Ranging from disorders of mood, to anxiety disorders. As a result, these individuals often go undiagnosed because mental illness is often stigmatized in their culture. However, they cope with their disorders through prayer and other religious
In this article, Kasam explains her experience being a Muslim American on a college campus and the challenges she her and fellow Muslims face on campus. She explains how she is a club leader at Quinnipiac University for a Muslim group. She claims that there is not a lot of Muslims who attend that University. She also believes that many Muslims at the school are afraid of coming out and telling other people on campus that they are Muslims; keeping a low profile. She provides statistics on hate crimes against Muslims around the world, and she also expresses her concern to her Muslim friends on campus. This article was published in the College Xpress for mainly college students to view. Kasam is a staff writer for the Quinnipiac Chronicle who mainly writes stories about incidents on and around Quinnipiac University. This article will help me explain the various problems that Muslim students around college campuses face
On September 11, 2001, since the terrorist attacks, many American Muslims have been stereotyped negatively in the United States. Salma, a Muslim woman, says that the way Muslims have been recognized in the media has played a big role in the antagonism directed at her. “I don’t know how many times I heard my classmates accuse me of being al-Qaeda or a terrorist” (Mayton 2013). Salma, along with other Muslims, even after a decade, are still struggling with trying to find their “American” and “Islamic” identities, while facing verbal attacks for their ethnicity. Too often, the general Muslim population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
Amer, M., & Bagasra, A. (2013). Psychological research with Muslim Americans in the age of Islamophobia: Trends, challenges, and recommendations.. American Psychologist, 68(3), 134-144. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from the Ohio Link database.
Consequently, it is no surprise that the most powerful media sources are spewing out pieces of hateful rhetoric that result in the “othering” of Muslims in the U.S. With the increase of Islamophobia and American nationalism. are currently driving hate crimes and institutional discrimination, human fear and emotion are becoming twisted and utilized as weapons in of its
This misguided executive order threatens our world standing, drives away talent and is discriminatory. The ban goes so far as to discriminate by religion affording Christian refugees preference over Muslim refugees. The ban clearly violates the first amendment of the United States Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion. Christians all over the U.S. have denounced this discriminatory preference. Trump’s Muslim ban also threatens financial markets, the value of the dollar and undermines globalization. It restricts intellectual capital preventing leading technologists, researchers, engineers, academicians and others from entering into the U.S. and has been roundly rebuked by leaders from the Silicon Valley. The blaring reality is that Trump’s Muslim ban targets seven countries--whose citizens were not involved in 9/11. The Global Terrorism Database of the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism found that no American has been killed in a terrorist attack in the United States by a national of the seven banned countries. Yet Trump’s ban used 9/11 as the basis for its enactment, while simultaneously causing a seismic shift in US counter-terrorism tactics. This could pose a real danger for the US with extremist groups now using Trump’s actions as a tool to recruit. The Muslim ban is a clear and present threat to our national
Since the September 11 attacks, numerous Americans have labeled Muslims in the United States as a risk to our country due to the fact that they share their religion with the extremists responsible for worldwide terrorism. Muslim that live in America continue to face isolation and danger because of their faith. Many people are responsible for this labeling, including journalists, politicians, and religious fanatics. Those mainly responsible for giving Muslims in America a modern day scarlet letter are the extremists themselves.
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
Islam is the religion that provides a complete code of life including social as well as personal spheres. Islam has been targeted by many stereotypes including extremism since last few decades. The reason behind these stereotypes are on some facts and to some extent widely propagated through media. Many people involved in criminal activities, get highlighted easily by media and catch the attention of general public if they are Muslims. A major role behind these stereotypes is played by the outcomes of the 9/11 attacks. Muslims have been targeted with stigmatization and other forms of racial discrimination. They have to face tight security at international airports. Employers have also been showing concerns or hesitation while hiring Muslims especially the immigrants. Many reasons beside 9/11 attacks behind Muslim stigmatization in United States have been in existence since many decades.
The author notes, “Since Trump's election, there's been an increase in the number of hate crimes reported against immigrants and minorities, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and others. Muslim-Americans in particular are on edge. They haven't forgotten that Trump talked during the campaign about banning all Muslims from coming into the country” (Joel Rose). In this quote, Muslims are receiving increasing hate crimes because Trump normalizes discrimination for them. Furthermore, some terrorist attacks linking to Muslims has created the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. The author states, “It only took 14 handwritten words — delivered last week on a sheet of paper taped to their front door — to shatter their peace and make the Muslim family wonder how well they know the country they now call home” (Peter Holley). Amar Samel and his wife, Muna Abdalla, received hate-filled notes that threatened their lives and their comfort. Religious intolerance in some communities does not only threaten the lives of Muslims, but also threatens the safety of the
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed America and the world forever. When we hear about terrorists in the news, most often the media is referring to a person of the Islamic descent. The actions of a small group of radicals caused society to generalize about the entire Muslim community. Research done by Jack Shaheen, a professor of Mass Communication from Southern Illinois University and a consultant to CBS News, showed that the media has the ability to create false stereotypes of Muslims. The government enforces stereotypes here at home, which influence policies. During times of conflict, the media functions as the carrier of government policies. (Alexandar, Hanson, 64). Through this form of mediatization, prejudice and misconceptions about the Muslim community has risen.
By fearing Islam, Americans feared anyone who practiced Islam, mostly Muslims. Americans, before 9/11 had little to no opinion about Muslims in America. 9/11 increased awareness of Islam, but did not increase knowledge of Islam. Most Americans are receiving their knowledge, of Islam, from the media, who uses fear to gain more views. The media subtly, but consistently, enforce stereotypes against Muslims. Examples could be of people wearing turbans and talking about terrorism. The subtly relates Islam to terrorism. Some news stations, more deliberately, only associate Muslim, or Islam, with keywords like terror, terrorism or terrorist. This coverage of Muslims, incorrectly, makes viewers believe that terror is more prevalent than it actually is. Because of the persistent, unfavorable stories of Muslims, many Americans, lacking education of Islam or knowing Muslims, are now prejudice against Muslim, and
Islamophobia is a newly coined term that is used to describe the growing fear of Muslims or specific groups that are considered to be associated with Islam. As a new term, the validity of Islamophobia is still a subject of huge debate even as its causes and characteristics are also controversial. This term was coined to refer to the events in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in light of people’s attitudes towards Muslims and those associated with Islam. Actually, after the dust settled following the attacks, a new gesture of nationalism was witnessed across the United States and racism soon followed, which are usually faces to the same coin (Rose, 2013). In light of these developments on the question on whether Islamophobia is a form of racism has generated arguments and counter-arguments in support and opposition to the claim. People who consider Islamophobia as a form of racism have supported their argument through various reasons including the division and exclusion associated with the fear of Muslims. On the contrary, opponents have argued that Islamophobia is not a form of racism because of lack of a clear link between the term and racism as well as the fact that Islam is not a race but religion. An analysis of these arguments and counter-arguments reveals that Islamophobia is a form of racism, particularly cultural racism.
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
As the Muslim population continues to grow in the United States it is important that counselors are trained in the background of these individuals and the knowledge needed to assist them. Due to this lack of representation of the Muslim American population, these individuals are more reluctant to seek mental health services, as they feel the providers have a lack of knowledge in how to treat them. In the Muslim culture there is also stigma and shame associated with seeking mental health services, making it less likely that they will seek out the help of a mental health professional even when they truly need it. To combat these issues, psychological providers can try to make the Muslim community more aware of the services they offer and the best way to access them. One way of doing so would be actually go into their communities and give presentations in the Mosques or at community mental health fairs.
The contributing factors that led to the growth of Islamophobia in America post 9/11 are a mass hysteria caused by media, influential voices speaking against Islam and an increase of biased stereotypes. Some of the news’s greatest ways of contributing to the rise in Islamophobia is by giving unrealistic over-exaggerations and non-legitimate statistics in order to display an overall false narrative of the actual matter at hand. 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 for a “Jihad rising worldwide”.