The Aftermath of September 11, 2001: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims in America

Authors

Susan M. Akram, Boston University School of LawFollow

Author granted license

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2002

ISSN

0271-3519

Publisher

Pluto Journals

Language

en-US

Abstract

THE DEMONIZING OF ARABS AND Muslims in America began well before the terrible tragedy of September 11, 2001. It can be traced to deliberate mythmaking by film and media,² stereotyping as part of conscious strategy of 'experts' and polemicists on the Middle East,³ the selling of a foreign policy agenda by US government officials and groups seeking to affect that agenda,⁴ and a public susceptible to images identifying the unwelcome 'other* in its midst.⁵ Bearing the brunt of these factors are Arab and Muslim non-citizens in this country. A series of government laws and policies since the 1970's have steadily targeted Arab and Muslim non-citizens for selective interrogation,⁶ detention,⁷ harassment,⁸ presumption of terrorist involvement,⁹ and removal from this country.¹⁰ The Patriot Act,¹¹ recent round-up and detention of over 1,000¹² and list of interrogation targets of 5,000 individuals,¹³ and the Presidential Order to establish quasi-military 'tribunals'¹⁴ exacerbate the selective targeting of Arab and Muslim non-ci completely sanctions blatant racial profiling.

Recommended Citation

Susan M. Akram, The Aftermath of September 11, 2001: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims in America , in 24 Arab Studies Quarterly 61 (2002).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1541