Arab Americans become targets for domestic reprisals

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October 2001

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Arab Americans become targets for domestic reprisals
In San Diego, someone explodes a cherry bomb on the sidewalk outside an Islamic center, forcing the worshipers inside to evacuate the building during a prayer service. In Illinois, a crowd of young people shout anti-Arab insults at suburban Chicago mosque; a taxi driver assumed to be Arab is beaten; and a Syrian Orthodox church and an Arab community center are firebombed. In Florida, a man of Palestinian background finds his brand new GMC truck sporting paint splatters and a threatening note. And in Minnesota, law enforcement officials had to remove four Arab American men from a Northwest jet when their fellow passengers refused to fly with them.

Within days of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, countless Arab Americans had already felt the sting of a country in search of revenge in incidents of assaults and taunts both minor and passing and sudden and deadly. In Mesa, Arizona, soon after the airline attacks one self-described "American patriot" allegedly fired at two gas stations and a home, killing Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian immigrant, inside one gas station. Sodhi was a Sikh, follower of a non-Muslim, Indian religion. Like all Sikhs, he wore a white turban resembling the headgear of alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The most obvious targets for harassment have been the Arab Americans who wear traditional dress, Jean AbiNader, managing director of the Arab American Institute (AAI) in Washington D.C., says, but those who are exposed to the public on a continuing basis, such as shop workers or restaurant employees, are also at risk. "We've had at least four or five reports of murders and then we've heard of burning mosques, hate mail, people pulling women's veils," he says. Unfortunately, AbiNader suspects the backlash might escalate before it communities can expect a return to something approaching normalcy.

"As it becomes more clear who did this, there will be a rise in people feeling they need to take action," AbiNader explains. "Taking military action will increase the likelihood of harassment of Arab Americans."

The backlash of enraged or juvenile citizens has been profoundly misdirected at other Americans, says AbiNader. Most Arab Americans don't even share the same religion as the suspected terrorists, he says. "Sixty-five to 75 percent of Arab Americans are Christians," he explains, not Muslims like many Americans believe.

According to the AAI, most Arab Americans are of Lebanese or Syrian origin, but many have also come from Egypt, Palestine, and Iraq. A third of the Arab Americans in the U.S. today live in six of the nation's largest metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, northeastern New Jersey, Chicago, and Washington D.C. The rest are spread throughout each of the 50 states. Many Arab Americans can trace their citizenship back four generations. "The first wave of Arab immigration began in the 1880s and continued through the end of World War I," AbiNader says. A second and third wave followed after World War II and in the late 1960s.

AbiNader says he's grateful the country's leaders have been outspoken in their condemnation of hate crimes in the wake of the attacks, but he thinks more could be done. "This is not a one-shot effort, it's a continuing campaign," he says. The AAI will be providing extensive education materials for teachers and community leaders over the web and AbiNader says upcoming public service announcements from celebrities such as John McCain, Mandy Moore, and John Ashcroft should help raise awareness of Arab American harassment.

The Catholic Church has also been instrumental in stopping backlash attacks, AbiNader says. "To have the pope and the bishops and priests speak out and hold interfaith services has been a great consolation and pride to us," he says. "The Catholic Church is aggressively pursuing the path of wisdom."—Anne Graber

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