When reading "Rasha", I couldn't help but think the counselor that was so mean to Rasha and her family in prison was a representation of the way many Americans treated people of certain ethnic groups after September 11th. There is a part where she is describing how he acted that sounded a lot like the way angry Americans treated anyone that looked anything like the terrorists that had caused such a tragic event for the U.S (whether these victims were related by race to the terrorists or not seemed unimportant): “He would look at Rasha and her family, in
their prison jumpsuits, and treat them like the dust hiding under dust. He didn’t
know the reasons for people’s incarceration, and he didn’t care anyway. He was
always shaking his head at the inmates, telling them they should expect
anything at MDC and that they deserved everything they got. Since they had all
done something terrible, they all deserved to be here." After September 11th, Americans wanted answers and wanted to hold someone, anyone, responsible for the numerous deaths and tragedy that we suffered. Americans wanted someone to blame and someone to pay for what had been done. We went to war to fight these terrorists and eventually the idea that anyone from the Middle East was a terrorist became a commonality. Though the counselor was wrong and many Americans were wrong to treat people differently based on the way they look for an event that was completely out of their control, I think the counselor is a strong representation of those Americans that did look at people of a different race and think "oh you're a terrorist, you must have been involved in 9/11, you deserve to pay". Do you think Americans still look at foreigners in a "you must be a terrorist because you look like the ones from 9/11" type of way and if so, why? Or do you think this was primarily immediately after the attacks because people were upset and wanted anyone to blame?
I think it's definitely both. People are still judgmental towards foreigners that look Arabic or Muslim to the fact that everyone was freaking out and needed to blame someone at the time. Also immediately after the attacks because everyone that "looked" like the terrorist were to blame due to the fact that Americans believed that they needed to capture someone or anyone to feel a little bit at ease. I think this is why people snitched on their neighbors because they were afraid and needed the people that looked different to be investigated to make sure their own neighbors weren't going to kill them. But to go as far as arresting a whole innocent family without proof is very illogical. This is exactly what happened with the Japanese camps after Pearl Harbor. Anyone and everyone that was or looked Japanese no matter if they were US citizens were still captured and detained until it was all over. And as mentioned during Rasha's story, the President apologized 50 years later, and I think no one is going to apologize to Arabs and Muslims for another 50 years like the author stated at the end of the story because that's just the way America deals with these types of "problems."
ReplyDeleteImmediately following the attacks, I agree that out of fear, Americans needed anyone or anything to blame. This blame was laid on Middle Easterners. Fear generated prejudice. While fear may no longer be imminently present, the prejudice remained. I believe this perspective toward Middle Easterners has remained constant. While Americans did not necessarily imprison Muslims, they were ostracized. I doubt Muslims in an airport are not inspected with greater intensity. Also, socially, Muslims were ostracized. In this case, they became 'the other' that Americans were afraid of. I believe this racism is still very much present now as it was immediately following the attacks.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is both that Americans look at foreigners in a "you must be a terrorist because you look like the ones from 9/11" and because is was immediately after the attacks. I think Americans looks a foreigners in that way because to them they are someone new who doesn't know the "American customs." What is right to the foreigners may be wrong to Americans. I also think it is because it was immediately after the attacks and people just wanted a "face" to blame to use like a punching bag. Its easier to blame things/events on people who are actually real and around then on some imaginary being.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's how we as humans grieve. We needed someone to be held accountable for what caused us so much pain. We knew it was terrorists but we looked at the race of the terrorists and stereotyped them. It's how Americans were able to in a sense feel safe again. Is it wrong? Of course. As far as an apology, I don't think that Americans really see how they treated Arabs as wrong, they look at it as a security measure that had to be taken for Americans safety. They see it as we were attacked and therefore have the right to do what we did. I think it's going to take America a long time to see the mistakes they made post 9/11 and then even longer for them to issue a formal apology.
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