Treatment of Muslim Americans and Arab Americans after
September 11
Hate Crimes Committed against Muslim Americans
According to FBI statistics, the most significant spike in hate crime activity occurred in the nine weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
While anti-Islamic hate crimes have tapered off in the years since 2001, there has not been a return to pre-September 11 levels. Peek describes the change as, "A new normal."
Tracking hate crimes accurately has been difficult due the ways categories are defined. To most government organizations, "Arabs" are racially white. The definitions of hate crimes also vary from state to state.
Hate crimes are also often go unreported. Victims may fear retaliation by the perpetrators. They may experience post-traumatic stress, self-blame or powerlessness. There also may be a distrust of authorities or the judicial system.
Many hate crimes aimed at Muslims have actually been committed against other religious minority groups. Sikhs are often misidentified as Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent. An estimated 250 hate crimes were committed against Sikhs in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks.
A Wider Scope
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, has performed their own research on anti-Muslim Bias incidents. CAIR's assessment goes beyond the FBI statistics, and includes incidents of discrimination in addition to violence. The organization first started tracking anti-Muslim incidents with the surge of hate crimes following the Oklahoma City bombing.
Unlikely to change anytime soon
On Monday, Dec. 10, the FBI released their latest hate crime statistics. Since a 50 percent spike from the previous year in 2010, the numbers of hate crimes against Muslims remains high with 157 hate crimes reported in 2011 and 160 incidents in 2010.