The September 11th Terrorists attacks dramatically altered the way American’s viewed racial profiling. Racial profiling went from being considered a racist act, to an everyday occurrence after the 9/11 attacks. As soon as the men responsible were identified, the Muslim faith was labeled immediately. The man wearing the turban that flew from California to New York every weekend became a hijacker overnight. The young “brown” college student carrying his school books in his backpack became a bomb threat in less than 24 hours. The media and the trauma that came with the September 11th attacks planted a stereotype into white Americans head that triggered automatic racial profiling. The glances, the ugly looks, and the moving of seats became a daily occurrence in American society. Racial profiling became a fundamental piece in the fabric of American society that has continued more than a decade after the attacks, because of the blurred line between being racist and being cautious, the fear mongering presented by the media and the government, and the lack of knowledge about the Islamic faith and what it really represents. 

Racial profiling is defined as assuming a person is a criminal based on their race or ethnic background. RP has been a method to apprehend criminals since the late 1970’s but until 9/11, 80 percent of Americans considered it racist and wrong. It was considered a racist generalization that not only lead to innocent people being persecuted, but limited civil rights.  Almost 70 percent of Americans in the current day believe that racial profiling in necessary for receiving some sort of public safety. The only way to safely protect this country is to look for patterns. According to a pattern, Muslims are most likely to cause terrorist attacks and so that is the rhetoric that stays in the minds of many Americans.  Racial profiling is a form of stereotyping that is more harmful then helpful. Over 700 Arabs are currently being detained in the maximum-security facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Exactly zero of them have been charged with any type of offense relating to 9/11 (CNN Library). This does not stop the rate of detentions of men and women who “look like” they could be involved. The US Department of Justice does not consider them American citizens and they are not on “American soil” so they do not have a right to a speedy trial or any other form of punishment. They are simply ghosts rotting away, even if most of them had no association with the masterminds behind 9/11 other then the fact that they were Arab and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Guantanamo bay was ordered to be shut down by President Obama in his last term, but President Trump has decided to keep Guantanamo Bay open. The line between being racist and just protecting ourselves is a line not many people want to discuss. Admitting that mashing a whole group of people together is easier than fixing the small problems within those groups. It’s much easier because then everything makes sense and it’s easy to explain to others. The first step in taking back the racist actions done so far is to put the people in Guantanamo Bay up for trial, so that the proper people are punished and those that are innocent can return to their families. The second step is to educate the American public on the Muslim faith and what it entails so there is a clear understanding before a judgement. The third would be for the media to start running stories about Muslims who are changing the world. Muslims that are the worlds psychologists, doctors, and teachers. Shifting the focus from the “fake muslims” to the actual Muslims who practice their faith peacefully and without aggression, will change the dynamic and the rhetoric that is stuck in the heads of many Americans. 

    Almost a decade later it has become so much more than September 11th. It has grown and morphed. Recently President Donald Trump implemented a “Muslim ban” where every Muslim, whether they were an American citizen or not, were banned from entering the United States if they were coming from a select country in the Middle East. President Trump racially profiled millions of people all over the world because keeping the Muslims out is the only way to keep America safe. This is not the first-time America has passed a law that racially profiles and violates the civil rights of American citizens. The US Patriot Act that was passed after 9/11 allowed law enforcement officials to monitor the communications between Muslim and Arab Americans. They would search phone records and emails looking for key words that would point to an incoming attack. This has proved to be no help in stopping terrorists from communicating. This has allowed for the existence of Guantanamo Bay. The prisoners being held there were caught with the use of monitoring communications. It has been argued that the Patriot Act is a misuse of government due to its monitoring of American citizens after they leave the country (Patriot Act). Not only do both of these acts violate basic civil rights and the constitution, but they run off the basis of racial profiling. The only thing these two acts leave us with is innocent people being persecuted or detained for something they cannot control like what ethnic background the stem from. They have a close-minded view of what being a terrorist is. Truly a terrorist is anyone that causes mass destruction in order to incite fear, nowhere in the definition does it say “Muslim” or “Arab”

Terrorism has been occurring domestically for centuries. The Oklahoma City Bombing, the Boston Bombing, and the Unabomber are all examples of terrorist attacks that were not done by Muslims or any form of Islamic extremist group. These events were reported on in the media, but simply died off. Attacks like the San Bernadino shooting continue to be talked about today especially in link with Muslim Terrorists.  When describing a terrorist, no one describes these men, they describe a man in a turban with a deep skin color. In the events since 9/11 the Transportation Security Administration were so heavily focused on people that looked like Arabs they missed a young man smuggle knives and bleach onto at least 6 planes. Arabs were more likely to be patted down and searched versus the average white man. Many Arab men were stopped and asked to be stripped search almost as if they were prisoners. (Racial Profiling). The fear mongering done by the media rises tensions and to some level reinforces the racist and stereotypical behavior. The media heavily focuses on the attacks done by Muslims and pays no attention to crimes committed by white American’s. A recent release by The White House shows that they avoided talking about 68 attacks that occurred domestically because they did not deserve enough attention (Hamilton, Owen). The US Media has only called attacks made by Muslim Jihadist’s as terrorist’s attack. The other are just mass murders or school shootings. The truth is they would call it a terrorist attack if the Charleston Church shooting was done by a Muslim. The US associates subconsciously the world “terrorist” with someone of the Muslim faith. A Christian or Jew doing any kind of mass killing would not be called a terrorist they would be termed a mass murderer. This is a terrible mindset because realistically both are doing the same thing. They are both taking the lives of innocent people for some sort of gain. They are both doing it without conscious and without fear. Why is one deemed a terrorist and the other is not one? Terrorism is an act meant to cause some sort of terror. It is not defined as an act done by someone of the Muslim faith. Not only does racial profiling need to be regulated but the meaning of terrorism needs to be altered and clearly defined.  The Islamic faith continues to be one of the most peaceful religions. 

The Islamic faith is one of the most peacefully religions that exist in this world. ISIS, Al Queda, and other extremist groups do not speak for the current Muslim religion. These groups use the writings of Muhammed which is the Islamic equivalent of Jesus. Mohammad had very intense and violent writings that preceded the Quran. Mohammed was imprisoned for a few years, that is when he altered his teachings to be more peaceful. These are the teachings followed by modern day Muslims. These Islamic extremists have almost hijacked a peaceful religion and are using it as an excuse for the psychopathic ways. It is understandable that an American may associate ISIS with the Muslim faith as they do exclaim that they are representatives of it. If one really looks deeper into the religion you would see that ISIS represents nothing at all. They are simply extremely conservative and focus on the old teachings rather than the new. American’s have always feared the ones that we do not understand. As a predomitaly white, Christian country we fear the ones that are different then us. American’s have been fearing those that are different since the creation, and humans have feared those that are different since the beginning of time. The holocaust was an example of the fear of the other. The colonization and killing of Native American’s is another example of the fear of the other. The fear of the other turns into violence and then hate crimes are committed. According to the FBI, 28 hate crimes that were committed in 2000 were against arabs. In 2001 that number jumped to 481, and has remained more than 100 since (Villemez). This study shows that after 9/11 hate crimes grew more than 100%. According to official statistics, during the decade following 9/11 the US saw a 150% rise in work place discrimination (Racial Profiling). As a society, America fears the ones that aren’t understood because it takes too long to understand. This is similar to the feelings that American’s felt during World War II where American’s imprisoned Japanese-American’s because of fear of the Japanese (Racial Profiling since September 11). During the War on Terror following the attacks of 9/11 the Bush administration prayed on the fear. They used terms like “they hate us for our freedom” in order to justify why the Patriot Act and other discriminatory and racist motives were necessary (Asultany). This fear mongering not only scares the American people but the fact that it is coming from the President who is supposed to guide the American people and be role model. The only way to effectively run racial profiling is to not pray on fear but to pray on knowledge and education of the subject. 

Racial profiling has not always worked effectively in the past. During the War on Drugs, the use of racial profiling caused the US law enforcement to miss a lot of criminals because they were mainly focused on African Americans (Davis). Thousands of white drug dealers and smugglers were not locked up. This is the reason that the US prison system is overrun with African American “drug dealers”. The police would stop and frisk anyone who fit the profile of African American and thousands of men were sent to prison for 15 years for just a simple possession of marijuana. Racial profiling can also be very helpful in stopping and apprehending criminals. For centuries, racial profiling has been used to identify serial killers through their crimes. Officers of the law can narrow does the suspect pool dramatically when factoring in the what they assume the race to be. It is customary for police officers to document the race of the people they arrest to correctly keep demographics (Wrag). Statistically certain ethnicities commit certain types of crimes, so racial profiling helps with security. There is no harm in being able to narrow a suspect pool down in order to speed up an investigation. It can also help with the cost. Without the use of racial cues all the policework used can be expensive and take up a longer period (Racial Profiling Pros and Cons). Overall racial profiling does have it perks, so it’s not whether to have it or get rid of it, it’s about regulating it. The regulating will not stop the benefits from arising, but it will take away the negative views. Racial profiling and racism need to be two separate terms and as of right now they aren’t. As long as the idea of stereotyping and assumptions are taken out of racial profiling, then the racism just fades away and it becomes another method to capture criminals. 

If the American People continue in this direction the conditions are only going to get worse. President Trump is considering making Muslims register, which is the first step that Hitler took during the Holocaust. History cannot be repeated. The only solution is to have the American people begin to educate themselves to remove that fear of the unknown that lives in the back of their minds. If people bothered to research Islam and what the religion involves they would see how peaceful the religion is. They would see that these terrorists are hijacking this religion to justify their need for mass murder. Racial profiling at its core has become a fundamental part of the US makeup, that can only be solved by the proper education and understanding of the other. The blurred line about the definition of racial profiling and what is considered ok and what is considered racist has gone undiscussed for years. No one likes to admit that they are racist or that they stereotype, but sometimes people do not even realize they are until someone calls them out on it. Letting the voices of the Muslims who are doctors, lawyers, social workers, and humanitarians be heard will help enhance the moral of that Muslim Americans in this country. Women like Malala Yousafzai, who is only 15 years old, speaks of the rights of women and bringing justice to be people who limit them. She is one of the youngest people to earn a Nobel peace prize for her work, and she is Muslim. Despite what people think Muslims and Arabs are smart people that believe in peace and simply just want to be treated as everyone else. Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia once said “Muslims are not bloodthirsty people. Islam is a religion of peace that forbids the killing of the innocent. Islam also accepts the Prophets, whether those prophets are Mohammed, God's peace and blessing be upon Him, or Moses or the other prophets of the Books”. What is to be done now? What can change the opinion? Educate, listen, and understand before making snap judgements of someone who looks Arab. If one witnesses the persecution of a Muslim American, speak up and defend them. They are much more willing to understand when they feel mutual respect is given
