percent of Arab Americans have reported having been subjects of discrimination since 2001 by Americans. Acts of discrimination began to rise during January of 2002, in which polls revealed 1700 acts of discrimination, profiling, and physical harm increased against those of Middle Eastern origin (Swiney, 5). Just one month after the September attacks, the State Department made it necessary for all non-immigrants applying for a visa to undergo security clearances, which consisted primarily of Muslim and Arab individuals. Among Arab individuals “thousands of students were unable to continue studies in the U.S., professors could not return to teach, jobs and fellowships were lost, and medical treatment and chemotherapy in the U.S. were discontinued”
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Many have spoken about their personal experiences, as one individual describes, “I always notice that my mom is mistreated outside of our house for wearing a hijab. One time, somebody pulled his head out of the car and said ‘go back to your country, you terrorists!’” (Jadallah & el-Khoury, 223). Other examples, as shown in Ahmed’s A Quiet Revolution, reveal that the hijab serves as a form of protection from harassment as one woman describes, “When I wear this dress,” one woman explained, “people on the street realize that I am a Muslim woman, a good woman. They leave me alone and respect me” (Ahmed, 121). Personal insults and attacks have lead Muslim and Arab individuals to feel subordinate in comparison to the rest of society and continue to feel like permanent outsiders, although they have been born and raised in America. Airports are not the only place in which Muslim and Arab people are singled out as an Arab man describes his personal experience at a local supermarket stating, “one time, in the height of the war against Iraq, I was at a supermarket and greeted someone in Arabic. This caused a virtual explosion in the 350 lb White man standing in front of me in line. Apparently he was 'afraid ' that I would 'explode ' myself! All 1 10 lbs of me. . .and wearing shorts and a t-shirt too! Where would I hide the bomb?!" (Jadallah & el-Khoury, 223). Cases such as these show that normalization of overt and suspicious racism exists in American society. Foucault describes this concept of power as being chiefly about direction and official at the top of the ladder and the types of self-government from the bottom (Jadallah & el-Khoury, 224). This form of power involves forming the potential
Many have spoken about their personal experiences, as one individual describes, “I always notice that my mom is mistreated outside of our house for wearing a hijab. One time, somebody pulled his head out of the car and said ‘go back to your country, you terrorists!’” (Jadallah & el-Khoury, 223). Other examples, as shown in Ahmed’s A Quiet Revolution, reveal that the hijab serves as a form of protection from harassment as one woman describes, “When I wear this dress,” one woman explained, “people on the street realize that I am a Muslim woman, a good woman. They leave me alone and respect me” (Ahmed, 121). Personal insults and attacks have lead Muslim and Arab individuals to feel subordinate in comparison to the rest of society and continue to feel like permanent outsiders, although they have been born and raised in America. Airports are not the only place in which Muslim and Arab people are singled out as an Arab man describes his personal experience at a local supermarket stating, “one time, in the height of the war against Iraq, I was at a supermarket and greeted someone in Arabic. This caused a virtual explosion in the 350 lb White man standing in front of me in line. Apparently he was 'afraid ' that I would 'explode ' myself! All 1 10 lbs of me. . .and wearing shorts and a t-shirt too! Where would I hide the bomb?!" (Jadallah & el-Khoury, 223). Cases such as these show that normalization of overt and suspicious racism exists in American society. Foucault describes this concept of power as being chiefly about direction and official at the top of the ladder and the types of self-government from the bottom (Jadallah & el-Khoury, 224). This form of power involves forming the potential