At 8:46 am on September 11, 2001 Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:03 am Flight 175 crashed into the South tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:37 am Flight 77 crashed into the west side of The Pentagon, and at 10:03 am, Flight 93 crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania where it was believed to be headed to the nation’s capital (Elsis). The attacks on September 11th were the most severe terrorist attacks that the country had ever seen with a total of 2,996 American lives lost. This day in history was a day that changed many people’s lives forever, but there is a group of people who were affected that many tend to overlook. The attackers of 9/11 were all a part of an Islamic terrorist group called Al-Qaeda. With the majority of people who practice the faith of Islam being Muslim, these people became targets within the country and began to be seem as terrorist, enemies of the country. The lives of many of these people changed after September 11th, and for some they became targets for racism and hate crimes in the United States. 

In a survey given in 2007 to Muslims living in the United States, it revealed that 53% of Muslims living in America feel that it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the country, and they believe that the government singles them out for surveillance. This number grew by 2 percent when the survey was given in 2011. Many of the Muslims surveyed also believed that the US’ war on terrorism is ineffective and an insincere effort to reduce terrorism as only 40% of Muslim Americans believe that groups of Arabs were responsible for the attacks (Pew Research Center). The Pew Research center also ran a survey on Americans in 2009 about their views on religion, and Muslim life in the United States. The survey revealed that 68% of Americans believed that Muslims are more inclined to receive discrimination than other religions that are not practiced by the majority in the country (Pew Research Center). The data from both of these surveys reveal that not only Muslims living in America, but non-Muslim Americans themselves agree that Muslims are more inclined to face discrimination in the United States. This data reveals that there is an issue of discrimination against the race in this country, and the issue is not one that people are not aware of.

Muslim racism within the United States has risen by large numbers after the attacks of 9/11. As the focus of many hate crimes and targets by the government for extensive surveillance, it can be argued that the aftermath of September 11th has caused Muslims in America to be poorly affected. While many have faced mistreatment others who have not are still aware that there are some people in the country who don’t believe they should be here. In a country where the first amendment protects the rights of freedom of religion, speech, press and peaceful assembly, it is not acceptable for those rights to only be protected for certain people.

Two weeks after 9/11, Muslim American, Ahmer Abbasi was arrested by the FBI without an explanation and thrown into jail where he was brutally mistreated, beaten, denied food and had no way of communicating with his family or lawyers for months. Prior to the attacks Abbasi had been living the “American dream” as he had moved to the United States in 1993 as a way to escape the harsh reality of his home country of Pakistan. He was the owner of a grocery store in New York City, had completed his GED and had no ties to the attacks (Abbasi). In his article, Abbasi wrote “The truth was, I was arrested, imprisoned, isolated and abused because officials thought I was suspicious and dangerous based on nothing more than my race and my faith”. He has been involved in an open case with the Supreme Court for over 14 years trying to receive justice for the way he was mistreated. The defendants of the case argue that even if he was unconstitutionally racially and religiously profiled, they shouldn’t be held responsible (Abbasi). This article is a clear indication of racial profiling against Muslims after September 11th. As the attacks happened years ago, but the case is still live and active this proves that the issue is still very relevant to today.

Lori Peek is a sociologist at Colorado State University where she specializes in vulnerable populations in disasters with a focus on racial and ethnic minorities. In her book entitled Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans After 9/11, she includes the stories of different Muslim Americans and the “range of discrimination” they experienced after September 11th. One of the Muslim Americans Peek wrote about was a student she met while she was the coordinator of a program that aimed to keep minority students earning degrees in natural sciences. Her name was Aisha and she was the first Muslim American that Peek had ever formed a real relationship with. Prior to 9/11 Aisha and her family were doing very well in the country. Her mother was a teacher, and Aisha was excelling in college. After she watched the attacks of 9/11 unfold, and learned that the attackers were people who practiced the same religion she did, and the leader of the attacks was someone who was thought to be hiding in her native country of Afghanistan she knew that there were going to be some changes coming her way. Following the attacks, Aisha’s family received a lot of hate and threats from her neighbors. She felt as if she was always being monitored, and she feared continuing her post-secondary education in America risked her safety as many students openly expressed their disapproval of her going to their school. Aisha stopped wearing her headdress to classes, and although she did graduate in the end, her college experience after the attacks became very different than the way she knew it prior to 9/11. Her mother, a teacher, was suspended from work for her “safety” after the attacks, but then received news that she could possibly lose her job because the parents of students felt uncomfortable having a Muslim woman as their children’s teacher (Peek). The information presented in this book provides more evidence that the attacks caused a direct effect to the lifestyles of Muslims living in America, and caused some to fear for their lives as well as the security of their jobs. Peek wrote that through conducting her interviews with Muslims living in America after the attacks, she found that it was very common for Muslim children to be bullied in school by their classmates, Muslim men to be questioned and sometimes deported without being able to let their families know, as well as hate crimes and vandalism to Islamic places of worship (Peek). All these things were common stories that she was told from the mouths of these people.

Outrage felt towards the Muslim community following 9/11 wasn’t something that was only privately expressed. There was also a public out lash against Muslims living in America from media, politicians and leaders from other religions. Saxby Chambliss, a republican representative, told law enforcement that the best way to fight terrorism was to let the local sheriff “arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line” (Vest).  Republican representative, John Cooksey, told a radio show host that ‘someone who comes in that’s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over’ (Lindsey). Former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jerry Vines, openly referred to the prophet Muhammad, a vital figure in the Islamic faith, as “a demon-possessed pedophile” (Council on American Relations). A radio talk show host named Michael Savage expressed to his listeners that in order to “save the United States” there needed to be an “outright ban on Muslim immigration” and believed they should make “the construction of mosques illegal in America” (Chiachiere). The discontent and unwelcoming attitudes towards Muslims living in America were openly expressed after the attacks. All of these comments were expressed publicly whether through radio shows, interviews or written in books proving that the hate towards the Muslim community was not kept a secret and there were people in the country that genuinely did not want the Muslim community to be present in America. 

Anti-Islamic violence in America jumped from a total of twenty eight reported hate crimes in the year 2000, to a total of four hundred eighty one reported hate crimes in 2001. This number remained above one hundred in the years following (Vellemez). This data can be seen below.

Along with this data the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 1,700% increase of hate crimes between 2001 and 2002 and Muslim immigrants more than any other immigrant group in the United States were met with negative attitudes (Ecklund).

 More recently, concerns of safety from the Muslim community have been expressed. In a news broadcast shown on September 11, 2016 the fear of protection during a Holy Day of the Islamic faith, Eid al-Adha, was presented. As the Holy Day fell on September 12th in 2016, the day following the anniversary of 9/11, it was a concern for Muslims living in America as they feared the day was one that would cause them to be seen as targets. The broadcast was used to deliver the message to the public that hopefully Americans could remember the day of 9/11 without causing harm to others. Extra security and police were lined up in preparation for the day in order to assure the safety of the Muslim community as they celebrated their holiday (Chapman). This broadcast proves that there is still tension between non-Muslim Americans and Muslim Americans, and the fear of violence and hate crimes is still a prevalent issue in the eyes of Muslims living in America.

Many people who were against Muslims being able to live freely in the United States after 9/11 argued that their reason is solely for the protection of the lives of American citizens. More recently with the new presidency of Donald Trump and the introduction of his new immigration policies, the supporters of the policies tend to also be people who are against Muslim life in America. Trump’s most recent attempt to control who comes in and out of the country was set to ban immigration from 7 countries where the majority of the occupants are Muslim. Trump stated “Keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. We don’t want them here,” as he signed the executive order which has since been suspended (Diamond).  The argument that US citizens just want to be protected is a valid argument in the idea that as a country we have the right to take precaution against future terrorist attacks, but it is all about the way the situation is handled. As many supporters of stricter immigration laws feel the way they do because we have seen multiple attacks since 9/11, this argument does not validate the mistreatment of Muslims living in America when the majority of Muslim Americans are in no way associated with terrorist groups. Although we cannot assume that everyone is on our side, when a certain race is automatically seen as dangerous or suspicious solely because of their race and their faith, this is a prime example of racial profiling, and as US citizens Muslim Americans should be protected by the law just as much as every other American citizen. 

Since the attacks on 9/11, life for Muslims living in the country has become increasingly harder. Facing racial profiling on a daily basis in a country where everyone is supposed to be equally protected by the law and given the same rights it is unfair that this race does not feel that they are. As the country continues to strive towards advancement in protection against terrorism, it is also important that we strive to protect the rights of every United States citizen just as much. No one race should have to be singled out, mistreated or targeted for hate crimes because of the mistakes of the few that make up its entire population.
