Kikey-whipped America gangs up on Arab goats:
Hate crimes against Arabs, Muslims in America rise 1,600 per cent in 2001
By Riad Z. Abdelkarim
THE FBI's recently released annual hate crimes report showed a marked increase in hate crimes targeting Muslims and people who are or appear to be of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent in 2001. The FBI's report found that incidents targeting people, institutions and businesses identified with the Islamic faith increased from a mere 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001 - a rise of 1,600 per cent.
Although the statistics did not specify how many of the 481 incidents occurred after Sept. 11, 2001, presumably the vast majority took place after that date. The increases, the FBI claimed in somewhat understated fashion, happened "presumably as a result of the heinous incidents that occurred on Sept. 11". According to the FBI report, most of the incidents against Muslims and people who are or were believed to have been of Middle Eastern ethnicity involved assaults and intimidation, but three cases of murder or manslaughter and 35 cases of arson were also reported.
As disturbing as these statistics are, however, the numbers of hate crimes reported by the FBI most likely vastly underestimate the true number of incidents that took place, as many Muslims are believed not to have reported such incidents to law enforcement authorities. According to statistics gathered by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, the number of hate crimes and "anti-Muslim" incidents reported by American Muslims was over 1,700 by February 2002. These ranged from public harassment and hate mail to bomb threats, death threats, physical assault, property damage and murder.
One question that has arisen in the aftermath of this hate crime surge is whether the US government responded appropriately to the post-9/11 environment of anti-Muslim hysteria. The answer is both yes and no, according to a recently released report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), titled "We are not the enemy: hate crimes against Arabs, Muslims, and those perceived to be Arab or Muslim after Sept. 11".
"Government officials didn't sit on their hands while Muslims and Arabs were attacked after Sept. 11," said Amardeep Singh, author of the report and US programme researcher at Human Rights Watch. "But law enforcement and other government agencies should have been better prepared for this kind of onslaught."
The HRW report praises the official condemnation of hate crimes after Sept. 11 by public figures including President George W. Bush. However, the report notes that "the US government contradicted its anti-prejudice message by directing its anti-terrorism efforts - including secret immigration detention and FBI interviews of thousands of non-citizens - at Arabs and Muslims."
Indeed, after the initial wave of hate crimes against American Muslims and Arab Americans, a second manifestation of the post-Sept. 11 backlash ensued. Sadly, this backlash was in large part sanctioned by and carried out by our own government. It is interesting to note that one category of incidents compiled by CAIR - not to be found in the FBI report - is "FBI/Police/INS Intimidation", with a total of 224 reported cases.
Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, FBI agents began in earnest to interview tens of thousands of American Muslims and Arab Americans around the country (the author of this article included). The manner in which many of these interviews were carried out led community leaders and members to feel that they were being unjustly treated as suspects. Many community leaders and activists - who were themselves quite vocal in condemning the terror attacks - found themselves being questioned by federal agents about their political beliefs and religious activities.
These early interviews did nothing to further the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks - not a single Arab American or American Muslim was arrested or charged. Non-citizen student visa or green card holders were in some cases detained - and some deported - for minor visa violations. Rather than assisting the investigation, these heavy-handed FBI and INS tactics contributed to the atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust with which Muslims were being viewed and in which this unprecedented surge of hate crimes occurred. In addition, the interviews had a chilling effect on the community, with many people fearful of speaking out against the subsequent curb on civil liberties or the war in Afghanistan for fear of being labelled "unpatriotic", "disloyal" or, even worse, "un-American".
Following the initial wave of interviews, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that the FBI would be arranging "voluntary" interviews with thousands of Middle Eastern and Muslim visa holders, bringing new meaning to the concept of ethnic or racial profiling. These men were selected for interview not because of any known connection to terrorism, but rather simply because of their names and countries of origin.
Even more serious than these so-called "voluntary" interviews have been the detentions of hundreds of individuals - mostly non-citizen Arab or Muslim males - by the FBI and INS without charge, without public hearings, without allowing legal representations and without even revealing their names. These draconian detentions have been the target of widespread, coordinated efforts by civil liberties and Arab-American and American Muslim advocacy groups. As Singh notes, "since Sept. 11, a pall of suspicion has been cast over Arabs and Muslims in the United States. Public officials can help reduce bias violence against them by ensuring that the `war against terrorism' is focused on criminal behaviour rather than whole communities".
Thankfully, the surge in hate crimes against those who are or appear to be Muslim has died down. Of greater concern to American Muslims presently, however, are the likelihood of another misguided backlash should our nation go to war against Iraq and the continued officially sanctioned harassment of Arabs and Muslims - citizens, immigrants and students - by our own government. One unsettling question remains: who will be making certain that our own government's increasingly reactionary policies are not unwittingly contributing to the anti-Muslim hysteria that makes these hate crimes almost inevitable? In other words, who will be watching over the watchdog?
The writer, a physician, activist and writer from Anaheim, California, writes the monthly `Islam in America' column for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times
Monday, December 16, 2002
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