Psychological Impact of being Muslim in a Post-9/11 America
Psychological Impact of being Muslim in a Post 9/11
AmericaPresented by: Alexandria Washington
The Pyschological Impact of being Muslim in a Post 9/11
AmericaPresented by: Alexandria Washington1
The Islamic faith and Muslim culture have become topics of much
controversy due to exaggerated claims of groups committing
terrorist attacks, political candidates that promote xenophobic
ideologies and a general lack of knowledge regarding the religion.
Muslims orgins in America date back long before the Atlantic slave
trade was established. The first recorded arrival was in the
fifteenth century when Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic.
As Europeans conquered and colonized the Americas many Muslims from
North and West Africa ended up in America as slaves. Since then
there has been a continuous presence of Muslims in America 2
Today, America is home to more than seven million Muslims (Nadal
et al., 2012). Included in the Muslim population are people who
have immigrated here from many countries along with people who were
already here, and people that have been here and since converted to
Islam. Although, America is a rich melting pot comprised of
different cultural and religious backgrounds many individuals and
groups face prejudice and discrimination.
Prior to 9/11 Muslim feminism was on a rise; however, the views
of Muslims in America were skewed (Jolls et al., n.d.). 3
September 11, 2001 was a very dark day for all Americans as a
group of terrorist hijacked planes and crashed them into the world
trade centers and pentagon4
Instead of coming together as a nation in the wake of this
tragedy, we divided, and allowed a single religious to be
scruitinzed and punshied for the actions of a few.This could be a
result of the negative media attention that surrounds the Islamic
faith. Islamophobic stereotypes are often viewed as acceptable in
the media. The years following 9/11 Media Tenor, a media research
institute, examined 2.6 million Western news stories from 10
British, American, and German outlets. Media Tenor concluded that
the medias coverage of Islam was rarely positive, with the average
tone of coverage worsening in the decade after 9/11. The lives of
ordinary Muslims were hardly depicted, instead most coverage
depicted Muslims, Muslim organizations, and Islam as a security
risk and source of violence. In the year 2014, negative coverage of
Islam reached an all time high as American news headlines were
introduced to ISIS and they gained a foothold in Iraq. Throughout
the years as there were fewer stories about Muslim Americans, Media
Tenor indicated that the coverage of Islam became more negative
(Bridge Initiative Team, 2015). 5
After 9/11 there was a stark increase of hate crimes and
discrimination toward Muslim Americans such as the burning of
mosques, verbal and physical assaults, discrimination in
employment, and bomb threats. In the year 2007 alone there were
2,652 reported cases of civil-right violations against Muslims in
the United States (Ibish & Stewart, 2003). 6
The attack on the world trade centers brought a lot of attention
to Arab-American communities. An article in the New York Time
printed weeks after the attack featured a quote by a Muslim woman:
"I am so used to thinking about myself as a New Yorker that it took
me a few days to begin to see myself as a stranger might: a Muslim
woman, an outsider, perhaps an enemy of the city. Before last week,
I had thought of myself as a lawyer, a feminist, a wife, a sister,
a friend, a woman on the street. Now I begin to see myself as a
brown woman who bears a vague resemblance to the images of
terrorists we see on television and in the newspapers. I can only
imagine how much more difficult it is for men who look like Mohamed
Atta or Osama bin Laden." 7
Perceived and everyday abuse and discrimination may influence a
persons overall health causing negative emotional levels that can
lead to mental health condition.
This also leads to decreased levels of trust in society which
ultimately leads to underused of mental health services by those in
need. Studies show that American Muslisms who report more general
forms of religious discrimination showed higher levels of
depression, anxiety, and sub-clinical paranoia.8
Dr. Amer & Dr. Hovey conducted a study in which they found
that Prior to 9/11 the majority of the participants reported
feeling safe to extremely safe; however, 82% reported feeling
unsafe to extremely unsafe following 9/11.
9
Many Muslims that live in America have experienced atleast one
stressful event related to thier Muslim identify such as special
airport security checks, anti-Muslim comments, and
discrimination.10
There was a stark increase in governmental surveillance,
profiling, and monitoring following 9/11 under the guise of the USA
Patriot Act. In 2012 the New York Police Department established a
surveillance program that infiltrated Muslim student organizations
and universities across the northeast. In other parts of the
country there were similar instances of surveillance conducted by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 11
Just the idea of being under a governmental surveillance
increases your anxiety levels and leads to avoidant and vigilant
behaviors. 12
Last year Muslim- Americans took to twitter to share their
experiences of being a Muslim in a post 9/11 America. Utilizing the
hashtag after september 11 we see the stories that arent shared by
the media such as a woman being called osama bin ladens mom or a
family asking their son if he wants to change his name because it
is osama13
We also see how children were no longer allowed to play with
their friends because their friends parents thought they would turn
their child into a terroritts 14
And finally we see the story of senseless acts of violence
simply because the person is muslim15
It is well known that Islamophobic discrimination has grown
since 9/11 and now it is time for us to change the narrative and
take an active role in destigmatizing the islamic religion. It is
also time for mental health practioners to understand and actively
treat the impact of discrimination on mental health. It is time to
us to truly come together as a nation and lend a helping hand to
our brothers and sisters.16
