WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2008
Report: Bias Against U.S. Muslims On Rise
While Hate Crimes Are Down Since 9/11 Spike, Prejudice Still A Major Issue, Group Says
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The study gives Hollywood some credit for presenting a more balanced view of Arabs and Muslims in recent films. But it said prejudice is worse than ever in popular culture. It particularly faulted the news media for allowing political commentators to inflame fears that Muslims are terrorists.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee released the study Thursday, calling it the most comprehensive look at prejudice and racially motivated violence that Arab-Americans and Muslims faced in the United States between 2003 and 2007.
Mary Rose Oakar, the group's president, said the level of prejudice became clear during this year's presidential campaign, when critics of President-elect Barack Obama used false rumors that he was a Muslim as a line of attack.
The group said it received reports of about 130 violent hate crimes against Arab-Americans annually during the years reviewed. That's up slightly from the roughly 90 annual reports it received during the 1980s but down dramatically from the roughly 700 incidents reported in the weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The group collected data for the report on its own, in part using anecdotal information. But its hate crime numbers are consistent with those of the FBI, which reported about 140 victims of anti-Islamic hate crimes in 2007, up from about 40 in 1995 and down sharply from more than 500 in 2002.
The report cited delays at airports based on agents' stereotypes or misleading "no fly" lists as a main source of discrimination, and said Arab-Americans are regularly subjected to long delays in immigration proceedings.
Back in September, Muslim workers in a Colorado meatpacking plant were fired after a dispute over evening prayers during the observance of Ramadan.
At a press conference unveiling the study, a Lebanese-American lieutenant colonel in the Alabama National Guard said he has complained about persistent anti-Muslim comments in his unit, including from a brigade commander. Lt. Col. Lance Koury of Birmingham said he has sent formal complaints up the chain of command but has received no response.
Alabama National Guard spokeswoman Katrina Timmons said the National Guard Bureau investigated Koury's complaints and ruled against him in June. He has appealed and the matter is set for hearing next year, she said.
Some of the study's harshest criticism was directed toward media outlets, which the report says have allowed bigotry to seep into mainstream discourse. The criticism focused on commentators such as Ann Coulter and conservative Christian leaders such as the late Rev. Jerry Falwell for routinely equating Islam with terrorism.
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See all 73 CommentsAmerica is better than that but the idiotic commentators spewing their hate for ratings are convincing people to look at people as groups instead of individuals. In the name of the Chrsitian God people are learning to distrust. Hopefully Obama will be able to tone down the hate and America can regain its place as a country comfortable with diversity and that judges a person on their actions.
If one buys a house in your neighborhood, MOVE! Soon there will be 10 more.
Good. Nothing but a bunch of goofy little sexist, racist american hating fanatic''s.
But, every heinous attack by the barbarians leads to silence in the Muslim community. Both here and around the world.
Ann Coulter. WOW. If she could ever meet me I would make her happy she did!
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Posted by FloydZeppd at 01:34 PM : Dec 05, 2008
EASY Floyd, EASY! Everyone knows that anyone who leads a good life and speaks well about Texas goes there when they die! `:)
And why on earth does See B.S. News report this as news?!
It isn''t bigotry when you love your country and speak out loudly and clearly about others who tacitly approve of terrorism by their inaction and silence. It isn''t hate when you call out others to denounce killing of innocent civilians and it falls on deaf ears. It isn''t us who marginalize those who WANT to be isolated from an integrated American culture.
It is the obligation of those who came to America to integrate themselves. It is THEIR obligation to see that freedom requires that they actively participate in what has made this country so great. Otherwise, they have no one to blame but themselves.
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Bravo! Well said.
The funny thing is that the groups who are hated turn against one another and hate each other as well. So instead of coming together to fight all dicrimination in general, they fight with one another over 2nd place.
They look down on one another an rank themselves based on their proximity to the Anglo-American idea of whats acceptable whether it be determined by physical characteristics or ideological. When reality is in America they all fall short of the "standard".
Lets all just face it...You have to be a white male, Christian, and heterosexual to get any type of respect in this country.
And frankly i''m sick and tired of listening to the whining coming from the "moslem community" in America.
So far as I am aware, the moslem religion is the only religion on this planet which tolerates absolutely zero competition from anything else whether religious or purely secular.
Frankly religion is to me the single greatest scourge to ever inflict the human race; and the daily news from around the world proves that.
Nonetheless; here in the USA our Constitution says that: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." So everybody here is free to follow their own vies in that matter, and by inference that includes bugging out of anyone else''s religious beliefs. That freedom is incompatible with a dogma which prescribes death or enslavement for anyone not kowtowing to that one particular credo.
So spare me the crocodile tears for that group; there are at least 57 countires on this earth that predominantely follow their belief system; so leave this country for any one of those places, since we are not going to change our laws to accommodate your hateful agenda.
When a radical Muslim meets a radical Christian, his interpretation of his religion dictates that he must attack or kill that person. Even though he may not want to.
Only a slight difference there. eh?
Is this a case of the news media making (or hyping) up stuff to generate interest?
Anyway, I''d like to hear some Indians (the south Asian kind, of course) comment on this story. Is killing a few hundred people randomly a hate crime? Not if you worship islam, I guess.
Posted by msobamaishot
LOLOLOL! OMG, that is the funniest post I''ve read in a long time - especially since the only way to get ''respect'' (as you call it) is to NOT be a white, Christian, heterosexual male in this country.
Golly gee wilickers Beave! All they did was enter the country, create terrorists cells, train as pilots on our soil, hijack a few aircraft carriers with innocent people and plow them into large buildings...then brag, dance, gloat and party about it...don''t be so paranoid!
Posted by bellona2 at 02:45 PM : Dec 05, 2008
That''s a wonderful goal to strive for, but not very realistic. Most "nonwhite citizens" do not want this. They are very protective of the of maintaining concepts & labels such as "the black community", the "Hispanic community" & so on. Many of the "nonwhite citizens", as you put it, wish for a color blind world on one hand & reject it on the other hand. It allows for scapegoating other groups & shifts responsibility away from themselves if thing are not going well for them, which is something they don''t want to lose.
Posted by musethalia
Who are they? The muslims or the terrorists?
Posted by Questionnews
That''s pretty funny. They love and accept non-believers huh? Kind of like they do the homoseexuals? Not the Christians I know. They seem to fear everybody and want to spread their influence. Doesn''t sound very accepting to me.
Posted by bellona2 at 02:45 PM : Dec 05, 2008
That''''s a wonderful goal to strive for, but not very realistic. Most "nonwhite citizens" do not want this. They are very protective of the of maintaining concepts & labels such as "the black community", the "Hispanic community" & so on. Many of the "nonwhite citizens", as you put it, wish for a color blind world on one hand & reject it on the other hand. It allows for scapegoating other groups & shifts responsibility away from themselves if thing are not going well for them, which is something they don''''t want to lose.
Posted by Questionnews
exactly questionnews - the ''non-white'' citizens, and non-citizens are great at having their niche in society because they feel it''s their ''due'' but if a white group tried that they''s get their a$$ sued off and have to go to counciling - perfectly OK for a black guy to call a white guy a cracker/honkey, but the white guy calls the black guy anything, it ''ain''t PC''...
Posted by Displeased
''they'' are the terrorists - however, let''s put the shoe on the other foot for a moment before you bash me - when Daniel Pearl was reporting, got captured, tortured and beheaded on camera for the entire world to see, was he an American, or a terrorist?
Posted by Displeased at 03:08 PM : Dec 05, 2008
That''s the doctrine. Obviously ignored by many of them, but that''s what they are supposed to do. Not practicing what they preach. Although, after watching what Muslims do to gay folks, I''m sure they would much rather try to exist with ignorant Christians than hung from a crane by radical Muslims.
Posted by Questionnews
That''''s pretty funny. They love and accept non-believers huh? Kind of like they do the homoseexuals? Not the Christians I know. They seem to fear everybody and want to spread their influence. Doesn''''t sound very accepting to me.
Posted by Displeased
so you judge the entire christian faith based on the the ones you know - hmmm...sounds just like the article we''re discussing only you appear to defend muslums because their not ''all bad or all terrorists'' and we''re being judgemental, yet hate all christian''s because of the ones you know. interesting.
Posted by fahr451
true story - the self proclaimed ''minority'' title get''s the most press and gives the most pressure - whether it be race, color, sexual orientation, religion. If everyone were simply ''equal'', there''d be no ''special entitlements/special programs/free money/free schooling'' and that''d pi$$ a whole lot of people off.
Posted by musethalia
No, I don''t hate christians or I don''t like terrorists. My point was, christians are not as accepting as they believe they are. Sure, nobody''s going to accept terrorists, or other violent criminals as far as that goes. But I don''t think christians will accept or respect other beliefs.
So are you referring to extreme Christians or extreme Muslims here?
Really hard to tell which is my point exactly. Radical Christianity is pretty much the same as radical Islam it seems to me. And much of their beliefs share common roots.
Historically, Christians have pretty much relied on threats of eternal damnation in a pit of fire if you don''t believe their "one true way".
Problem is there are so many "one true ways" how do you choose?
The US Census bureau mentions at least 35 five different Christian groups in 2001. So like which one of just those in the US is the "one true way"?
And I don''t even think that includes those other well known loving Christian groups like the Phelps Klan, the Christian Patriots or the Aryan Nations.
And what about all of the translations of the Bible?
Which one is the one true infallible literal version?
Posted by musethalia
No, I don''''t hate christians or I don''''t like terrorists. My point was, christians are not as accepting as they believe they are. Sure, nobody''''s going to accept terrorists, or other violent criminals as far as that goes. But I don''''t think christians will accept or respect other beliefs.
Posted by Displeased
you''re still placing all Christian''s into a category -The practices you describe about not being accepting or resepecting others beliefs are not the practices spoken at my church by my preacher - maybe in Rev Wrights congregation, where he specifically states God *** America, the white folk and the blacks must rise to superiority, or the muslum practice of stating that all those who don''t believe in Allah should be killed - you''re not making a clear argument. When you say nobody likes a terrorist, you''re wrong because terrorism what the suicide bombers believe in, based on their religious faith - kill those who don''t believe in Allah and you''ll be met by the virgins
Posted by NativeWoman
There isn''t ''one true infallible, literal'' version - that''s why the practice of religion is or should be a personal and private choice - the extremists are the ones who destroy the inner peace for people because they believe their views are the right views and everyone else is wrong in their eyes - for example, catholic priests molesting alter boys - completely fu(ked up and they ''use'' religion as their excuse and give the rest of the people who privately worship catholisism a bad name - it''s a twisted catch 22
Report: Muslim Bias Against U.S. On Rise.
There, just as true!
BTW, a "judgment" is not a "bias"; only "prejudice" can be equated with bias. Say that Mr. A, B or C decides, after reading some history and following the world news, that Islam is more dangerous than Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism. You can argue that his judgment is incorrect or that he needs more/different evidence, but not that he is biased.
Does anyone in their right mind wonder why? Sheeze, they go around killing indiscriminately, have world domination as their stated objective, tell their followers that anyone that is not muslim deserves death, treat women like trash to the point of ''''honor killing'''' them.
It''''s an extremely f''''ed up cult and yeah, ''''bias'''' is increasing against them.
Posted by fahr451
excoachken, do you suppose that the MUslim radicals that have killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians thoughout most countries in the free world might have had a bigger influence than Rush? Maybe the fact that in single attack, the largest in the history of the U.S., a larger loss of life than at Pearl Harbor might also have been a factor? Or are you convinced like most libs that the blame lies with those nasty republicans? No wonder why this country is soooo divided, idiots like you.
Posted by notblue
Both of you are SERIOUSLY ignorant. I''m surprised the both of you can walk and breathe at the same time. Us christians have radical violent groups too, as so do jews and other religions. All in the argument that "my god has a bigger d.i.c.k. than your god" nonsense. Maybe the two of you should move to your own island where everyone looks alike and nothing ever changes, so you can feel safe and secure.
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Posted by VcofReason
If your screen name implies "voice of reason", first you need to aquire some reason. Right now you''re just plain stupid.
Posted by notblue at 04:00 PM : Dec 05, 2008
Many liberals are Christians, what is up with this nonsense that you have to be a social conservative to be a Christian.
Posted by farmerbb at 04:48 PM : Dec 05, 2008
That is hardly an argument. This is America, we pride ourselves on being diverse. Unless you want to be like Saudi.
Posted by nycsense at 04:41 PM : Dec 05, 2008
Respectfully, in the last 1/2 century there is no comparison in the level of attacks & deaths caused by the devotees of Islam in the name of Islam. Some try to point out the wackos that murder abortion doctors & a smattering of other isolated incidences by those that claimed their religious beliefs justified their actions, but to try to compare the sheer volume & scale of the attacks & deaths caused by Muslims that claim their religious beliefs justified their actions. To say they''re on par is outright dishonest. Make list of atrocities committed by radical Islamists in the last 50 years or so & compare it to any other radical religious group. Actually, don''t do that because there is no comparison.
Posted by RowdynTex
Are you sure that''s why they''re doing it? I thought it was for political reasons, such as our support of Israel and our presence in Saudia Arabia. How come we don''t see terrorists attacking Russia or China or Mexico, etc.
Posted by RowdynTex
Hmmm, interesting point...
That is a valid point, but what is not pointed out is that the level of poverty and uneducated is severely unbalanced when you compare the populations of the US and of the Mid East. They are off the charts compared to us...that''s a clear indication of why this is so.
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