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"Arab Americans are Defended"
by James Zogby
Much has been made of the ugly crimes
that have been committed against Arab Americans, Muslims and Sikhs
in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Hundreds
have been reported and those acts have created real concern,
especially among the most vulnerable members of our community. But
this is not the whole story of what is going on in the US today.
Attention should also be given to the
countless acts of goodwill and generosity being shown to the
community. All across the U.S. and right here in Washington,
Americans have been reaching out to show support for Arab Americans
and American Muslims.
While many of these gestures are
spontaneous, it should also be noted that the context for them has
been created by official statements and actions of our nation's
leadership. Because these statements are so strong and so
impressive in their recognition of our community, they deserve to be
reported.
This effort to support Arab Americans
and American Muslims has, of course, been led by President Bush.
During the past two weeks, he has led several events with Arab
Americans and American Muslims, and has spoken out forcefully
against hate crimes against the community.
Immediately after the President made
his initial comments defending Arab Americans and American Muslims,
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, the nation's highest law
enforcement official, elaborated, noting, "...the Justice Department
has received reports of violence and threats of violence against
Arab-Americans and other Americans of Middle Eastern and South Asian
descent. We must not descend to the level of those who perpetrated
Tuesday's violence by targeting individuals based on race, religion,
or national origin. Such reports of violence and threats are in
direct opposition to the very principles and laws for which the
United States of America stands, and such reports of violence and
threats of violence will not be tolerated."
The FBI Director, Robert Mueller, has
established a national effort to investigate and prosecute any acts
against Arab Americans. At a meeting late last week with community
leaders, Mueller announced the first two arrests of perpetrators of
these crimes. He also noted that the FBI has now initiated 90
investigations of hate crimes. He said "I want to make it very
clear: Vigilante attacks and threats against Arab Americans will not
be tolerated. The FBI and the Department of Justice are committed to
aggressively investigating and prosecuting violations of the federal
hate crime laws."
The Civil Rights Division of the
Department of Justice has regularly met with community leaders since
September 11, and has set up a number of national outreach programs
designed to: facilitate hate crime reporting; assist Arab Americans
in providing educational material about Arab culture and the Islamic
faith to our nation's schools; and build better relations between
Arab Americans and law enforcement agencies.
In this regard, the Secretary of
Education has also been helpful sending out a directive to U.S.
schools saying in part "...I urge you to make sure that assemblies,
classroom discussions, and other school activities held to honor
victims of the tragedies, do not inadvertently foster the targeting
of Arab-American students for harassment or blame... [W]e must
emphasize during this difficult time in our nation's history that
our feelings of anger and sadness must not be directed at innocent
Arab Americans, or other individuals having no connection to last
week's events. Working together, we can make sure that our children
get a good education in a safe environment that does not tolerate
violence and hatred."
The Congressional leadership has also
sent strong messages of support to the community. A concurrent
resolution, passed unanimously by both the Senate and House of
Representatives, put the legislators on record noting that the
Congress:
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declares that in the quest
to identify, bring to justice, and punish the perpetrators
and sponsors of the terrorist attacks on the United States
on September 11, 2001, that the civil rights and civil
liberties of all Americans, including Arab-Americans,
American Muslims, and Americans from South Asia, should be
protected; and
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condemns any acts of
violence or discrimination against any Americans, including Arab-Americans,
American Muslims, and Americans from South Asia.
Equally important in this effort was
the Minority Whip of the Congress, David Bonior, who initiated the
bill in the Congress and has also convened meetings with Arab
Americans and American Muslims, both in Washington and in his home
state of Michigan, to discuss both the problem of the backlash and
the danger to civil liberties that might arise from overzealous law
enforcement and misguided "anti-terrorism" legislation.
As the President has met with Arab
Americans and American Muslims, so has the Senate and Congressional
leadership. The Majority and Minority leaders of the House convened
a meeting last week with the community to show support, as did the
bipartisan leadership of the Senate. At the Senate event, the
Majority leader, Tom Daschle, made an especially strong appeal,
noting "The overwhelming majority of people understand instinctively
that the way we get through hard times is by turning to each other,
not on each other. Unfortunately, not everyone understands that.
In the last couple of weeks, hundreds of crimes in dozens of states
have been reported against Muslims, Arab-Americans, Sikhs, and
others. Just as the terrorists betray the peaceful teaching of
Islam, the people who commit these hate crimes betray our ideals as
a nation."
In an effort to deal with problems of
discrimination that may develop in the workplace, both the
government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the
AFL-CIO, the U.S.' umbrella organization representing labor unions,
issued strong statements.
The EEOC statement read, in part: "In
the midst of this tragedy, employers should take time to be alert to
instances of harassment or intimidation against Arab-Americans and
Muslim employees. Preventing and prohibiting injustices against our
fellow workers is one way to fight back. . . against the evil forces
that assaulted our workplaces Tuesday morning...Our laws reaffirm
our national values of tolerance and civilized conduct. At this
time of trial, these values will strengthen us as a common people .
. ."
These comments represent only a few
of the outpouring of statements from both officials and civic
organizations. It has been a remarkable display of the best
qualities of our fellow Americans coming to the defense of Arab
Americans and American Muslims. Some of our polling data shows that
all of this support is having a positive impact on public
attitudes. At week's end, a daily tracking poll conducted by Zogby
International showed that by a 63-11 margin, Americans have
favorable attitudes toward Arab Americans, and an almost identical
61-12 favorability margin exists towards Muslim Americans.
To be sure, problems remain.
Americans are confused about how to react to proposals to begin
profiling Arabs at airports. While a clear majority of Americans
reject such a proposal, there have been a handful of reports of
pilots asking Arab and Muslim passengers to leave their aircraft
because their presence made some of the other passengers
uncomfortable. So far, both the Department of Transportation and
two airlines (Delta and American), have issued strong statements
rebuking this type of action.
As the conflict continues to unfold,
we must remain vigilant. Terrorism must and will be fought, but
bigotry too must also continue to be fought. The early signs,
however, point to the fact that despite some difficulties and some
criminal acts, Americans are unified in facing both challenges. And
three weeks after the horrific attacks on New York and Washington,
the nation's resolve is strong and Arab Americans and American
Muslims are being both respected and protected by our nation's
leaders.
Dr. James J. Zogby is President of Arab
American Institute in Washington, DC.
Source:
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- by the same author:
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