Blog Entry 4

Following the 9/11 attacks, Muslims and Arabs were treated poorly. Hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims spiked 1,700 percent in the first six months after September 11. Moustafa Bayoumi writes stories about young Arabs in America. The FBI held meetings with the community leaders and leaders were required to condemn terrorism in front of them. Prior to 9/11, only 11 FBI agents could speak Arabic fluently. There are terms that have been created known as ‘flying while Muslim’ or sometimes, TWA (traveling while Arab). We learned in class about Arabs on flights being asked to leave because they were speaking Arabic. This caused controversy. In one of Moustafa’s stories, Rasha, a young Arab woman, was arrested along with her family because she had her visa refused. She, her mother and sisters met Pakistani women, Arab Women, and other Muslims detained under similar circumstances. The correctional officers treated them with little respect, and Rasha found them abusive. They were released three months later. When Rasha ran into a former guard at a restaurant, she confronted him. He replied, “Ah, wow. See? You cleaned up your act. At airports, Muslims are racially profiled and might be ‘randomly’ selected for further screening. When Arabs come to the United States, and their name is Osama or Najwa, they are asked if they want to keep their names. Some names such as A.J. Racy have been abbreviated from Ali Jihad (A.J.).  There is also a Patriot Act where the government, for instance, has the right to demand what books you rented at a library. Moreover, Muslims and Arabs might live in Brooklyn or Detroit because there is a higher concentration of Arabs in these communities. Still today, there is discrimination, hatred, and hostility toward Arabs. Not all Arabs are terrorists, in fact, Islam itself is a peaceful religion. It is a shame the fear and worry Arabs and Muslims live with following 9/11.