The catastrophe that took place on September 11, 2001, in the United States took the lives of many people and caused serious damage to several buildings (Aguirre and Turner 275). This terrorist act was conducted by the members of Al-Qaeda which escalated the racialization of the people of Arab ancestry and Muslims by Americans.
In fact, the relationships between the United States and the terrorist groups of the Middle East had not been easy before the Twin Towers were damaged and an attempt to destroy the Pentagon was made in 2001 (Aguirre and Turner 275). For example, in 1993, there was an attack the purpose of which was to blow up the North Tower of the World Trade Center (Aguirre and Turner 275). However, the events of 9/11 were so tragic and terrifying that they will be long remembered.
The catastrophe caused a wave of hatred and fear of Islam followers and Arabs in the US. Immediately after 9/11, the number of hate crimes increased drastically; even individuals who did not belong to the Arab community but looked like Arabs were targeted. Apart from physical violence, people of Arab descent experienced high psychological pressure though they were not to blame for the attack.
There is long-existing prejudice against the representatives of the Middle East. For example, in 2010, campaigns like “Check it right, you ain’t white” that aimed at counting the number of Iranian-Americans in the US were conducted (Shams). Hence, it might be concluded that Americans tend to perceive Arabs as suspicious and foreign people of color.
In my opinion, any sign of discrimination is wrong; despite the impressive progress achieved, people still need to learn how to respect and understand others. It is understandable that Muslims’ worldview and culture seem strange and foreign to Americans. The terror and anger caused in people by 9/11 are also justified; nevertheless, the US is a multi-national country and it is important to eliminate discrimination and prejudices. No nation should be regarded as wicked; in each country, there are evil people.
As shootings in schools and other incidents have shown, among Native Americans, there is a large number of terrorists, too. That is why, to sum up, I would like to say that although people’s feelings might be understandable, racialization is not the best way to solve problems, it just creates new ones.
Works Cited
Aguirre, Adalberto, and Jonathan Turner. American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination. 7th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2010.
Shams, Alex. “Are Iranians People of Color? Persian, Muslim, and Model Minority Race Politics.” Ajammc. 2019. web.