Arab-Americans in a post 9/11 world

This blog post is in connection with my final project for my CES class in the fall of 2009. For this project two classmates and I decided to focus on September 11^th and the affects that day had on Arab-Americans within the United States. We wanted to look into Arab-American stereotypes and how these stereotypes have been supported in the media since 9/11. We also wanted to look at how these stereotypes have altered the lifestyle of Arab-Americans.

We found that the media has latched on to the September 11^th attacks and heavily supported these stereotypes by broadcasting them to the world. Cartoon strips, news reports, television shows, and movies all immediately focused on terrorism. The face of fear and terror in the United States was the face of almost any Arab male. Americans were trained by the media to associate terrorism with Arabs. These stereotypes greatly affected Arab-American’s ability to lead a normal life in the United States.

In my research I found a journal article written by Steven Salaita titled: Ethnic Identity and Imperative Patriotism: Arab Americans Before and after 9/11. In this article Salaita focuses on Patriotism. He implies that Patriotism is what fuel racism and stereotypes within the United States following September 11^th. In this article he states that Arab-Americans were more often than not overlooked as a group within the United States. He describes 9/11 as the turning point “Arab Americans evolved from invisible to glaringly conspicuous.” Salaita concludes his paper article by stating that 9/11 didn’t alter the life of Arab-Americans, it just reinforced existing stereotypes.

I disagree with Salaita’s idea that it did not alter the lives of Arab-American’s within the United States. I believe that it greatly altered the lives of all races especially Arab-Americans

Steven Salaita's article:

http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2078/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=102&sid=a99477dd-9cba-4553-b071-79595b5d2f61%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=16861574#db=a9h&AN=16861574#db=a9h&AN=16861574

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