In late May 2015, a Muslim woman on a United Airlines flight was refused a can of soda
under the justification that she would use it as a weapon.
Reportedly, a fellow passenger insulted her faith, and told her to shut up when she complained.
In February, multiple Muslim students were murdered by a self professed anti-religion
advocate, which has widely considered a hate crime.
Furthermore, anti-Islam groups have been sponsoring Islamophobic advertisements on buses describing
Muslims as “savages”.
These examples are the latest in a long line of discrimination against Muslims in the United
States.
So, is the US actually Islamophobic?
Well, religious discrimination in America is nothing new.
Statistics show that between 1996 and 2006, a yearly and consistent average of 1000 hate
crimes were committed against Jews, and about 100 hate crimes were committed against Catholics
and Protestants.
However, up until the year 2001, attacks against Muslims numbered in the tens and twenties.
In the year 2001 alone, mostly in the months following the September 11th terrorist attacks,
hate crimes against Muslims increased by 1,600%.
Although attacks on Muslims dropped by two thirds the following year, the average rate
of hate crime is still five to six times that of pre-9/11 figures.
Some have suggested that large global events, especially terror attacks, tend to spike the
number of quote “retaliatory attacks”.
Following the 2015 Charlie Hebdo (heb-DOE) shooting, more than 50 anti-Muslim attacks
occurred in France in a single week.
This phenomenon even predates 9/11.
Following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings by two white Americans not of Islamic faith,
early blame was placed on “Muslim terrorists”.
In the three days after the attack, over 200 serious hate crimes were committed against
Arabs and Muslims in the United States.
A further feature of Islamophobia is the lack of a distinction between Arabs and Muslims.
Many groups with a similar cultural appearance, like Sikhs, have also been attacked on the
uninformed basis of appearing to be Muslim.
This sort of broad strokes discrimination has even led to the phrase “Flying while
Muslim” to describe the racial profiling experienced by those of Middle Eastern descent
following 9/11.
In multiple cases, Muslims have been removed from flights, ostensibly because their appearance
and behavior were cause for concern.
Some conservatives like Ann Coulter have even controversially stated that Muslim passengers
should be expected to deal with greater scrutiny and suspicion as a result of global terrorism.
After Jews, Muslims are the most discriminated against religious group in the United States.
Although the number of anti-Islamic attacks have dropped in recent years, they are still
disproportionately high.
Despite more than a decade having passed since the September 11th terror attacks, the evidence
does suggest that Islamophobia has dramatically increased throughout the United States.
The US isn’t the only country that’s been criticized for Islamophobia in recent years.
To learn about the situation in France… check out our video here.
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