SOC203 W3D1 Hate Crimes

Post 9/11 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab backlash and discrimination has affected communities dramatically. The “FBI reported a 1600 percent increase in reports of discrimination and harassment in the period following the attacks in New York” (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 2012). Backlash has included discrimination in the workplace, studies have shown “measurable psychological distress and reduced levels of self-esteem and environmental mastery” (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 2012), hate crimes, and violence, both verbal and physical against those of Arab descent or those who associate with them. An example given in one of the readings given this week is of a man in New Jersey who was locked out of the room he had been renting and beaten because of his ethnicity. He was then given an hour to move out or be killed. Although the incident was reported, the authorities never looked into it (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 2012).