Special Report on Islamophobia
Conclusion and a Call to Action
The first period of American Islamophobia primed Americans to understand the 9/11 attacks as representative of Arab political culture and Islamic devotion, and media stereotyping was plainly an important factor in the backlash that afflicted these communities post-9/11. Given the significant and alarming deterioration in Islamophobic hate speech in the media over the past five years, one can only ask what are Americans being primed for now? How will this defamation affect ordinary American Muslims in their daily lives? And what if there were another tragedy or terrorist attack? There was nothing the Arab-American and American Muslim communities could have done to prevent the September 11 attacks. And, there’s no real control or influence these communities can have over whether or not such a calamity could happen again.
But we must face the fact: the cultural climate has changed and much for the worst. All of this vicious defamation has had a palpable and extremely negative effect on US public opinion. Immediately after 9/11, American attitudes toward Islam were generally positive, with 47% favorable and 39% unfavorable, (whereas Catholicism polled at 48% favorable, 37% unfavorable). Since then, public opinion in the U.S. has moved from neutrality towards apparent fear of Arabs and Muslims, with Islam polling between 19-41% favorable. A 2006 Gallup survey of American public opinion found that "many Americans harbor strong bias against U.S. Muslims" and that:
- 22% say they would not like to have a Muslim as a neighbor.
- 34% believe U.S. Muslims support al-Qaeda.
- 39% advocate that U.S. Muslims should carry special ID.
Given these results, following a period of five years after the 9/11 attacks in which there have been no additional actions inside the United States by Muslim terrorists or any major plots of that kind thwarted, one can only imagine the results if there had been additional terrorist acts.
The question we must ask ourselves is, are we ready for what could come upon us at any time, through no fault or influence of our own? The answer can only be no. As before 9/11, we continue to largely place ourselves at the mercy of our fellow Americans, since we have not properly organized to defend ourselves politically, socially and culturally. This would and could not be happening to a community that had clout, gathered its resources to defend itself, and was fighting back in an effective way against bigotry and hatred. In recent years, the momentum has almost all been on the side of hate speech and defamation. We have no choice but to end our inertia and begin to roll back the forces of Islamophobia and ensure that American Muslims and Arab Americans are treated with the same level of respect and with the same standards as to any other community in our country. It is time, now, to organize a systematic, serious and sustained collective response to the cultural and, make no mistake about it, the political crisis outlined in this study.
