discrimination against islam in america

Discrimination Against Islam In America

By: Trevor KumecJayda KosarJanely Bonilla-Mendoza Sergio Ferrino

Issue At Hand

Our topic is discrimination against Islam in America. This is a prevalent issue in our society today. Many people have prejudices against people of this faith because of a few heinous acts done by extremists. This has led to many issues between innocent people of this faith and people who are prejudiced against them.

Jayda Kosar

Historical Context

for the Issue

Janely Bonilla-Mendoza

Major Occurrences that Caused Discrimination

● Two of the most historical and terrorizing bombings in America were the bombing of the World Trade Center, and 9/11, creating Muslim discrimination throughout the United States. In the initiation of persecuting groups based on religious backgrounds.


Bombing of

World Trade Center

● Context:○ A beginning gateway that enforced the

discrimination against Islam occurred on February 26, 1993, the World Trade Center collapsing due to a bomb that was planted in the building’s garage. Six people were instantaneously killed, while thousands of others were injured.



9/11 Attack


● Context:○ On September 11,2001 terrorists

attacked the United States in the

following locations by hijacking

four airplanes in mid-flight: The

Twin Towers, the Pentagon in

Arlington, Virginia, and in the

field of the Pennsylvania. Which

evidently led many Americans to

blame the whole islamic

community rather than those individuals solely responsible.


Aftershock of Both Incidents

● Government officials reported, due to distrust in the justice system and fear of deportation, incidents of racially biased attacks in the U.S. are underreported.

○ From 1992 - 2000, incidents motivated by racial bias comprised the largest portion of reported hate

crime incidents, and lower hate crime incidents resulted from ethnicity or national-origin bias until 9/11 occurred in 2001.

○ An increase in 2001 was among religious-bias incidents along with Anti-Islamic religion incidents

that were previously second least reported, but ultimately changed after 2001. Suddenly rising

second highest reported among religious-bias incidents, increasing by 1,600 percent over the 2000

volume.

○ In 2001, reported data showed that there were 481 incidents made up of 546 offenses having 554 victims of crimes motivated by bias toward the Islamic religion.


Aftershock of Both Incidents

● American citizens lived in a state of fear after these incidents occurred in commencing the hatred, and opposition towards the Islamic community since it quickly becoming acceptable.

○ Numerous accounts of harassment

towards islam citizens boarding on

airplanes were on the rise. Being easily

subjected to harassment by their customs

from women wearing the hijab to men commonly known to have long beards.


Trevor Kumec

Case Studies

Building a Cemetery in Farmersville, TX● The Islamic Association of Collin

County (IACC) is proposing to build a 35-acre cemetery in rural Farmersville

● The cemetery may provide burial services for the 22,000 Muslims that live in Collin County

● The citizens of Farmersville have responded with fear and much opposition to the proposed cemetery Trevor Kumec

Building a Cemetery in Farmersville, TX

● Reasons given by residents for opposition to the cemetery:○ Islamic Burials contaminate groundwater (Islamic burial occurs without a coffin)○ Muslims cause controversy wherever they go○ The cemetery is actually going to be a Mosque or Muslims training center for terrorists○ The Middle East Conflict is reason enough to oppose the cemetery○ Muslims will “take over” Farmersville

● Apparent falsehoods○ Burials at the proposed cemetery would use coffins, thus there is no concern of

groundwater contamination

○ Mosque/madrassa is not a part of the proposed building plans, and the IACC has no terrorist affiliation or history

● Clearly, several other of these claims are based on fear, and not factsTrevor Kumec

Building a Cemetery in Farmersville, TX

● Analysis:○ “You’re not welcome here!”...“Every place y’all have been, you’ve caused some kind of

controversy in the schools, and the government lets y’all have y’all’s way. Well, it’s not going to happen in Farmersville.” These are words from one citizen to Khalil Abdur-Rashid, the man representing the IACC. This is an unfortunate situation, where the basis for resisting the cemetery seems to be not based on tangible reasoning or evidence, but rather is based on ignorance and hate.

○ Local clergy members may be partly to blame. David Bethlehem, a local Christian pastor, tells his congregation and others that the Muslims are trying to build a training center for terrorism. “When you have local clergy members telling people that Muslims are a danger, they take it as true,” says Abdur-Rashid. “We hope to engage the pastor, the church and local residents in order to build bridges.”

○ Abdur-Rashid recognizes causes of this hate, and seeks to work with his opponents, rather than fight them.

Trevor Kumec

Building a Mosque in Sterling Heights, MI

● Background○ Sterling Heights is host to many Muslims and Chaldeans (a sect of Iraqi Christians)○ Chaldeans have suffered much persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists in Iraq○ Thus, there is much tension between the Muslim and Chaldean communities in MI

● Reasons given for opposition to Mosque○ There will be increased traffic○ Deep enmity of Chaldeans and Iraqi Muslims would make residents feel unsafe○ Women who wear headscarves are “scary” to children○ The mosque will be used as a center to plot terrorist attacks○ The style of mosque doesn’t fit with the neighborhood

Trevor Kumec


● Analysis○ Several valid reasons for

opposition: increased traffic

in neighborhoods is

certainly a valid excuse to

be opposed to something,

as is a general opposition to

a very large structure being

built in a neighborhood.

These reasons are understandable.

Trevor Kumec


● Analysis○ However, when the mosque was

finally rejected in September, locals

showed up in large numbers to

celebrate, flaunting signs such as

the one shown to the right.

Additionally, the crowd chanted “No

More Mosques”, and attacked

women in headscarves with anti-Islam epithets.

Trevor Kumec

Final Analysis of Case Studies

● Legitimate reasons mask racial prejudice○ Often, there are legitimate reasons given for opposing a given Muslim-related activity,

such as the increased traffic example with the Michigan mosque, or the groundwater

contamination example with the Texas cemetery. However, such claims are often lacking

any evidence. Furthermore, as was seen in Sterling Heights, the true root of opposition to

the mosque construction was not traffic or any other reason. The residents of Sterling Heights clearly showed, with their actions, a blanket hate and fear of Muslims.

○ A reoccurring theme with the cemetery and mosque was the fear of a secret “training

center.” In both instances, non-Muslim residents feared that the construction in question would eventually be turned into a haven for terrorist groups. Trevor Kumec

Supporters

of Discrimination

Against Islam

Why People Discriminate Against Muslims

● In America, as we have previously talked about, there have been terrorist attacks by a few radicals that consider themselves to be a part of Islam, because of that people believe that it is okay to blame every Muslim for the actions of a few.

● Donald Trump is a huge Anti-Islam supporter, he has recently proposed to ban Muslims from entering the United States, and he has also proposed that Muslims wear an I.D. and create a database of who is Muslim and who isn’t.

Jayda Kosar

Oppositions

to Islamic

Discrimination

Facts Against Anti-Islam Discrimination/ Terrorism

● A Duke University study found that Muslims themselves notified authorities about suspected terrorism more than the U.S. government found by investigation.

● Also a Pew survey discovered that most Muslims in the United States believe that their religious leaders are not doing enough to denounce extremist Islam.

● The FBI has reported that 94% of terrorist attacks since 1980 in the United States have been perpetrated by non-muslims.

Jayda Kosar

Conclusion

Conclusion The issue of discrimination against Muslims in America is very prominent in today’s society. Several unfortunate events, that have occurred in American History, are what largely contributed to the negative outlook on Muslims by Americans. Part of the reason they caused so much distress was because of the location, The World Trade Center. The first attack occurred on February 26,1993 and the second on September 11, 2001. Unfortunately, the second attack resulted in the collapse of both buildings and the deaths of thousands of Americans.

Sergio Ferrino

ConclusionWith the memories of February 26th and September 11th still fresh in the minds of Americans, they became exponentially more racist and violent toward Muslims. An example of the racism is clearly shown in the cases of the Muslim cemetery in Farmersville, Texas and the Mosque in Sterling Heights, Michigan. In Farmersville, Texas local residents opposed the building of a cemetery within the city limits. In Sterling Heights, Michigan residents opposed the building of a Mosque in a neighborhood within the city. Clearly hate still exists in our country to this day, which is shown by recent attacks in the U.S. and foreign countries, and the remarks of Donald Trump. However, there are people working to stand against the Anti-Muslim Discrimination. Sergio Ferrino

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Web.Jayda Kosar

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CNN, 08 December 2015. Web.

Friess, Steve. “Proposed Mosque in Detroit Suburb Draws Sharp Opposition.”

Aljazeera America. Aljazeera America, 08 Sept. 2015. Web.

Obeidallah, Dean. “Donald Trump’s horrifying words about Muslims.” CNN

Opinion. CNN, 21 November 2015. Web.Jayda Kosar

Literature Cited

Literature Cited

Strickland, Patrick. “Plan to create Muslim Cemetery Sparks Uproar in Texas

City.”Aljazeera America. Aljazeera America, 13 Aug. 2015. Web.

Yan, Holly. “The Truth About Muslims in America.” CNN U.S.. CNN. 09

December 2015. Web.

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Nonproliferation Studies Combating the Spread of Weapons of Mass

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Web.

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History.com. A&E Television Networks, 26 Feb. 2013. 10 Dec. 2015.Web.

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