W.T.C

It is unquestionable that the events of September 11th 2001 (9/11) left an indelible mark on the United States of America. Four commercial planes were hijacked by terrorists: two of the aircrafts were flown directly into the towers of the World Trade Center (WTC); the third one was targeted to the Pentagon; while the fourth airplane, a failed attempt of its hijackers, crashed in Pennsylvania after the heroic passengers took on the terrorists. None of the people aboard these flights survived. An entire nation watched the WTC towers, and the people inside, disappear into a mass of smoke and debris. Information released by the media pointed to a group of Muslim fundamentalists named Al-Qaeda; therefore shifting public opinion against American Muslims and Arabs in general. “People were hurling curses at Arabs and at foreigners,” describes Paul Berman in his article “Brooklyn Dispatch: Under the bridge”. Entire middle-eastern communities across the United States were forced to drastically change their habits and daily routines for fear of reprisal.

A study conducted by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) , an organization that performs fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses, states that biased-crimes climbed almost 300 percent after the attacks of September 11th, and racial profiling and discrimination reports increased accordingly. Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49 year old turbaned Sikh, who was shot and killed by Frank Roque, supports the statistics. After his capture, Roque declared: “I stand for America all the way! I’m an American. Go ahead. Arrest me and let those terrorists run wild!”. A similar case took place in Texas when Waquar Hassan, a 46 year old Pakistani, was killed while cooking hamburgers at his grocery store. Mark Stroman was found guilty of Hassan’s murder, however, charges were dropped after he was convicted and sentenced to death for a previous crime of the same nature. The information released by HRW states that violence against Arabs and Muslims is not unprecedented, and affirms “over the past twenty years backlash hate-crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. have become predictable,” triggered by conflicts in the middle-east and acts of terrorism associated with them. It also determines that biased-motivated crimes such as Matthew Sheppard’s murder on October 12th 1999—who was brutally beaten by fellow students because of his sexual preference—show our society’s violence background.

“If we want to finish terrorism, we must not become terrorists to all others who are simply different,” writes Yevgeny Yevtusenko, author of “Babi Yar in Manhattan,” and goes on saying: “To defend our civilization, we can act only in a civilized way,” making reference to the retaliation suffered by members of the American Arab community. President George W. Bush refers to the perpetrators of such biased acts of violence as “the worst of humankind” , evidencing the position of internal politics in response to hate-crimes, immediately mobilizing federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to prevent and investigate crimes similar to Hassan’s. A sense of trust and confidence has been created among Arab communities towards authorities through the opening of communication channels between them, allowing affected residents to slowly go back to their normal lives. However, not all actions taken by official agencies help to dissipate the preoccupation and concern among residents. Detention of at least 1200 middle-eastern and south-Asian individuals because of possible links to terrorism, reinforced a public perception that Arab and Muslim communities as a whole were suspects and linked to the “enemy”.

Our legislation should be hardened when punishing hate crimes, therefore discouraging individuals from committing them. The first law criminalizing bias motivated conduct in the United States was the Federal Hate Crimes Statute (18 U.S.C. § 245), created to protect civil rights workers in the ‘60s. Between 1980 and 1990, several laws were created to fit the reality the country was living. Forty-five U.S. states now have hate-crimes legislation; supporters of such laws argument that “hate crimes cause additional harms over and above injury caused by crimes not motivated by hate, their unique nature should be recognized in the criminal law and receive greater punishment.”, according to a document from the Anti-Defamation League . Currently, states such as South Carolina, Indiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Wyoming, still do not have a law exclusively punishing bias motivated crimes or enhancing their punishment.

Post September 11th violence was directed at those communities who shared or were perceived as sharing the national background or religion of the hijackers and Al-Qaeda members deemed responsible for attacking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Research done by the Human Rights Watch organization demonstrates that action in advance of potential outbreaks of hate crimes can help mitigate the harm to individuals and property from backlash crimes, and recommends: “law enforcement authorities should prepare a ‘backlash emergency mitigation plan’ that may be implemented immediately following any event that might trigger backlash violence.” A more active and severe legislation about hate-crimes is necessary nationwide, as well as understanding that we cannot minimize nor repair the damages caused by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 through indiscriminate violence. Ultimately, prevention of anti-Arab violence will require an ongoing national commitment to tolerance, respect for multicultural diversity, and recognition that “guilt by association” has no place in the United States.

Miguel P. is a college student seeking an Associates in Applied Science, currently working full time in the IT industry. He has a passion for autmobiles, specially those powered by rotary engines. You can contact Miguel or read more material at MyRotaryCar.com