Blog #4

 Blog #4 

After the tragic events of 9/11, it was revealed the 19 hijackers were primarily from Saudi Arabia, and that they were affiliated with al-Qaida's Osama Bin Laden. The U.S government launched “anti-terrorism” policies and initiatives that were indiscriminately targeted to Arab Americans, 15 of the policies and initiatives implemented within a year after 9/11 were specifically targeted to Arab Americans and Muslims, After the attacks people around the country were hostile towards Arab Americans and Muslims and these government policies surely did not help the situation, "Mass arrests following the attacks increased generalized suspicion against Arabs and Muslims in this country”. 

 

In Moustafa Bayoumi’s book “How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America,” he authors the stories of young Arab and Muslim Americans trying to make a decent living for themselves in a country that sees them as the enemy. In Bayoumi’s book he argues how most Americans lack the understanding of what Arab and Muslim Americans experienced post 9/11. After 9/11, Arab Americans were being persecuted because of their ethnicity and religion, this left many Arab Americans feeling insecure in a country many came to see refuge, economic opportunity, and cultural acceptance. 

 

Bayoumi makes a provocative comparison between Arab and Muslim Americans and African Americans after the Civil War, he suggests that Arabs have become a new  minority, somewhat of a racial under class in America. In book he implies this by saying Arab and Muslims are the new “problem,” hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims have risen since 9/11, also many Americans openly admit their prejudice against Arab and Muslim Americans. Bayoumi believes that American foreign policy has cast Arabs and Muslims as the “enemies,” he argues that this led Americans to internalize the association between Muslims and terrorist. (300 words)