Revisiting Islamophobia After bin Laden's Death

Two weeks ago, when I covered an  at Lacey Township High School for Lacey Patch, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Osama bin Laden seemed like a distant memory. In the past week, terrorism, bias, and inter-religious dialogue have dominated the news. There was, for example, welcome news from the Pew Research Center that favorable attitudes toward bin Laden among global Muslims have sharply declined since 2001.

Engy Abdelkader was the featured speaker at the Lacey event. She is a Muslim American attorney from Monmouth County who began wearing a hijab after Sept. 11, 2001, in part to reclaim her faith from radicals.

"I felt at that moment personally that my religion was being hijacked by the terrorists. They did not only damage and wreak havoc on innocent Americans at the World Trade Center, and not only did they instill fear in Americans across the United States, but they also caused great damage to their own religious community," Abdelkader told students.

After 9/11, bias incidents against Muslims in the United States increased exponentially and still persist, she said.

But in a new book and in an article for CNN, Claremont Institute Fellow William J. Bennett and his co-author Seth Leibsohn dispute this narrative. The authors cite 2009 U.S. Department of Justice statistics that indicate 8.4 percent of religious hate crimes in the United States targeted Muslims, while 72 percent were perpetrated against Jews. Additionally, the statistics show that 49 percent of all hate crimes were racially rather than religiously motivated, with 71.5 percent of those crimes directed at African Americans. 

"This pattern has remained fairly consistent over the past decade. For example, in 2002, 10.5 percent of the religious bias crimes in America were anti-Muslim while 65% were anti-Jewish; in 2006 (just to pick another post- 9/11/2001 year), 11.9 percent of the religious bias crimes in America were anti-Muslim while 65.4 percent were anti-Jewish," the authors wrote at CNN. 

"So what is that larger story?" they asked.

"Bigotry is, of course, abhorrent. But given that America has been targeted by a great deal of terrorism in the name of Islam over the past decade -- targeted by terrorists who say they are acting in the name of Islam -- America has not over-reacted in a wave of anti-Muslim bigotry. ...

A CNN poll found that nearly 70 percent of Americans said they would be OK with a mosque in their community and that 'positive views of Muslim Americans are on the rise.' It is also worth noting that nearly 700 mosques have been built in America over the last decade," they concluded.

I talked to Abdelkader on Tuesday about the implications of Bin Laden's death for anti-Muslim bias.

"My general impression is that the message of his death was a welcome one both here and, for the most part, abroad as well," said Abdelkader. 

"Look at all the trauma and the death and demise that he caused," she said when I told her that support for bin Laden had declined among global Muslims.

She compared his actions with peaceful protests against the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt this spring.

"They were able to achieve the change they desired through peaceful means as opposed to Osama bin Laden, who, 10 years ago, took the life of innocent people and has achieved nothing positive by doing that... His actions and his ideology are absolutely destructive," said Abdelkader.

There has been an "uptick" in discrimination against Muslims since President Obama's announcement, she said. Mosques have been vandalized in Maine and Lousiana, a high school student was harassed by a teacher in Texas, and two imams were forced to deboard a plane because of passenger fears, she said.

When I told her that Jews are targeted for hate crimes more frequently than Muslims, she said she was aware of this fact, but said Muslims are filing more employment discrimination claims now than they did immediately after 9/11. 

"Over the past 10 years, American Muslims have become more savvy regarding what their civil rights are, perhaps garnering more courage in coming forth and reporting incidents than they were initially willing to do so," said Abdelkader.

She reiterated that there is a correlation between bias incidents and what happens in the public square. 

Because she had directly blamed a Florida pastor who burned a Qur'an in Florida for the deaths of 12 people in Afghanstan, I asked if she understands that some of the bias she mentioned, like opposition to a proposed Islamic center near the World Trade Center site, may be a reaction to the real violence that has been perpetrated against Americans and a function of frustration over delays in building a 9/11 memorial at the site?

"I do understand the misapprehension, the fear. Even after the announcement by President Obama of Osama bin Laden's death, and the fact that there is this uptick in discrimination, I understand that people are afraid of reprisals happening against us," said Abdelkader.

"What I expect is greater tolerance and greater understanding. ...I can differentiate between what self-professed adherents to a religion do in the name of that religion versus what that religion teaches. I also expect greater responsibility by our elected officials," she added, saying that it is wrong for politicians to "capitalize on these issues for personal gain by castigating an entire community of people."

"They do that with everything, don't you think?" I replied. 

"There's one standard that applies to certain minority groups. There's another standard that applies to Muslim Americans. There are certain things that can be said in the public square regarding Muslim Americans that cannot be said about African Americans or Latino Americans or Jewish Americans, and I think that's what needs to be changed," said Abdelkader. 

Forty-eight percent of all hate crimes are racially motivated and 71 percent of those are perpetrated against African Americans, I said, and asked if she thought that despite these crime rates, racist speech has become socially prohibited while anti-Muslim speech has not.

Abdelkader said yes. 

 affirm her contention. But others reflect the kind of tolerance and empathy that Bennett and Leibsohn claim are more characteristic of the overall American response to the events of the past decade. 

One thing is certain: we need to keep talking and trying to understand perspectives that differ from our own. We must also reason consistently, as Abdelkader suggests, and be scrupulous with facts.

It would have been prudent, and generous, for example, if she had told students that Jews and African Americans are victimized more frequently than Muslims. Not only would the students have heard a more accurate description of reality, but in doing so, she would have demonstrated that she cares as much about bias toward other groups as she does about bias toward her own.