Subtopic 1 Continued
In this excerpt from a volume of the Journal of American Ethnic History, Louise Cainkar discusses how the social status of Arabs within America has declined over the last few decades, due to numerous factors such as the 9/11 attacks and political agendas. She expresses how this widening social distance between Arabs and other Americans has been represented through media representation, government policies, mainstream cultural representations, public perceptions and attitudes, discriminatory behaviors, and social and political exclusion (Cainkar, 2006). She specifically goes in depth regarding how unwelcoming American culture has become towards Arabs through media representations depicting Arabs as savage, violent people, along with empirically supported evidence of job discrimination towards those with Arab names and phenotype, regardless of even knowing if they are Christain or Muslim (Cainkar, 2006).
Cainkar L. (2006, May 26th). The Social Construction of Difference and the Arab American Experience. Journal of American Ethnic History. 2006;25(2/3):244-278. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=21460132&site=eds-live
In this article written by Ghada Quaisi Audi within the American Studies Journal, the discriminatory struggles Arab Americans endure through our legal system are discussed. The author discusses how since 9/11 Arab Americans have been subjected to a de-Americanization process through racial harassment, anti-activist government policies, hate crimes, racial profiling, and employment discrimination (Audi, 2008). Particular attention is brought towards how there are countless examples of Arab Americans being racially profiled for crimes and ostrichsized in the workplace by coworkers in acts of misguided Patriotism due to the associations so many make between Arabs and terrorists within our society (Audi, 2008). This item compliments the work of Cainkar well by providing even more examples and elaboration regarding the various ways this discrimination has shown itself within our society.
Audi, G. Q. (2018, November 21). Challenges Facing the Arab American Community from a Legal Perspective | American Studies Journal. http://www.asjournal.org/52-2008/challenges-facing-the-arab-american-community-from-a-legal-perspective/
In this tweet posted by @justinboldaji on Twitter, a video glorifying early 2000s highschool is quote-tweeted by a screenshot of a tweet expressing that being an Arab American student during this time period was filled with a discriminatory atmosphere commonly accepted by teachers and students alike. With over 126,000 likes and nearly 10,000 retweets, this anecdotal sentiment clearly struck as relatable to an incredibly high number of people. This tweet serves as evidence that Arab discrimination was an incredibly real and widespread occurrence following 9/11, and something that the common person noticed and remembered vividly.
@justinboldaji. (2023, April 4). Being Middle Eastern in America right after 9/11 was wild. . . Twitter. https://twitter.com/justinboldaji/status/1643288253464989696?s=20