This disgusting crime sparked interesting responses in the article's blog. If you follow the link, you will see that some people commented on the grossness of the crime, but an equal number of others disregarded the bullying and added a few hateful comments themselves.
I know that coming from the Bay Area, people on this blog are typically fairly liberal, but do you think that the anti-Muslim feeling is at all justified or rational? Second, what could help solve this new racist sentiment? Is there an answer?
7 comments:
The fact that the tormentors were using physical force makes this completely unjustified from the beginning. The commenters are also speaking unjustly. Anti-whatever race is completely unjustified in this country. It may be challenged as an exercise of freedom of speech, but it definitely is a hate crime. It's down right being racist. It's like the country went back in time, but instead of hating blacks it's hating muslims now.
Although the situations are similar, the solutions might differ slightly because the U.S. has already established the fact that discrimination against any race is wrong. Reinforcement of the protection of basic rights would probably be the best solution for now.
I believe that many of the hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. are the result of misinformation (or lack of information all together) about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Most Americans know the basics - or at least think that they do - about the attacks, but I would be willing to bet that most don't know the details. The average American knows simply about the effects of the attacks on the U.S. and that the attacks were carried out by citizens of an Islamic nation. This narrow range of information limits Americans' ability to form opinions and makes people more prone to stereotyping and generalizing - thus leading to hate crimes such as the one described in the post. If young Americans were taught all of the facts about the attacks in school and if it was stressed that only a small group of extremists carried out the attacks, then young people would not assume that "every Muslim is a terrorist."
-Jessia Hoffman
While I do agree with Jessia in that the average American tends to not know the specific and isolated nature of the 9/11 attacks or the diversity and range of the Islamic world, it is shocking to hear that this attack has occured in one of the most diverse and educated areas in the world, let alone the nation! As a South Asian Hindu, I have also unfortunately had to deal with anti-muslim sentiment despite the fact that I, and my family, are not muslims. Unfortunately, a majority of the prejudice has come from the Bay Area, a very tolerant and educated zone. But I digress...
In the end, I think that the anti-Muslim sentiment has less to do with misinformation and more with finding a scapegoat. These boys, who have probably gone to school with a good deal of kids from different backgrounds, are simply picking on this poor child because he may be a weaker and easier target than the 6 foot Iranian. (Forgive my humor, I am truly disgusted by what those pathetic rags did to that innocent boy. I think they are using racial prejudice as a very disgusting excuse.
Here is what I think about your questions. For the first one, I think that the anti-Muslim feeling is not justified in the US. We as a country need to understand the very messed up things we have done to the Middle East (Afghanistan 80s, Iran 70s). Also, 9/11 was a tragedy, but it has already been made clear that it was carried out by an unpopular extremist group. While I think that the justification for anti-Muslim feeling in nations like Israel and India is a murkier realm, such a feeling is not justified in a nation where the majority of its Muslims have been peaceful and secular.
For your second question, I think that racism cannot really be solved. Today its Muslims, tomorrow its someone else. Weak people always pick scapegoats. But truly, I think that hate crime in the US has gone down in comparison to nations in Europe and our early history. I wish everyone could truly be tolerant and kind, but not everyone will be. The only thing I think can work is very very harsh punishment for hate crimes.
Although people are finding many problems with Muslims today because of the mosque that wants to be built by ground zero, i find all of these racial issues nonsense. Just like immanuel said, it is like we are going back in time and treating these Muslims like we treated African Americans. This situation reminds of a book i had to read the summer of junior year which was called "Warriors Don't Cry". It was based on real events of blacks integrating an all white high school. Although the Muslim boy isn't integrating into the high school, the students in the book "Warriors Don't Cry" were treated the same way. They were spit on, verbally abused, and physically abuse. I found that very tragic and i find this event very tragic. No child, or even adult, whether they are black, Asian, Muslim, or white, should be treated like scum due to their ethnic background. This should be stopped because what these children are doing to this Muslim boy may lead him to commit suicide, and then how would they feel knowing they led to him killing himself. I know that's drastic but these kids are never going to learn.
I also found astonishing that this Muslim kid wasn't even going to tell his parents that this happen to him until he found out that two of his tormentors were going to go to same high school as him. This is such a sad topic that children are afraid to tell their parents their problems. Parents are meant to hear our problems and help us no kid should fear talking to their parents.
There is no doubt that all of us agree that this physical force is unjustified.
What most of us do not agree on is a method dealing with how to solve the problem. It seems that Jess believes people are simply misinformed, and that they need to be educated on the topic of the 9/11 attacks so that they are not so ignorant. Anjana seems to believe that racism cannot be solved. (I hope that my summaries are correct)
I agree and disagree with both opinions slightly. I am a firm believer in educating the younger generation about world religions such as Islam. Indeed it is critical to educate students about the 9/11 attacks. However, we should put even more emphasis on teaching students about world religions so that they may not go unarmed into the political and social world when it comes to racist, Islamophobic, etc. views. It was mainly ignorance that resulted in such Islamophobia after the 9/11 attacks. A majority of the population probably did not know much about Muslim values, and even Islam as a religion itself before the attacks. The 9/11 attacks opened many Americans' eyes to the world of Islam, but in an extremely bad way. Had many had the prior knowledge, they would have been crestfallen, nonetheless, but I highly doubt there would be nearly as much hate crime and Islamophobia as there is today.
Regarding Racism: I also believe that there is a little racism in all of us, because if anything different than our "norm," it is only natural for the human race to have a feeling of superiority. Alas, not ALL racism can be cured. However, racism can be certainly be toned down much like how discrimination towards blacks, women, etc. has been (although there are those who claim there is no such progress...surprising, considering many laws passed that have indeed had a fairly large effect, if not SOME effect). I honestly think that this boy was a target because of his religion and ethnicity. Where would the insult of "terrorist" have come from had the the boys not known about the 9/11 attacks? Indeed, as Anjana said, it would seem as though "weak people always pick scapegoats." However, I disagree slightly because of the example in this post. The boys are not just picking on this boy because he may be weaker. They are picking on him first and foremost because of his religion (if indeed he is Muslim...there is no certain indication in the original post). People don't always pick scape goats. If they have no reservoir to draw scapegoats, they can not insult an individual, which is almost impossible. So yes I agree that it is impossible to eliminate all scape goats. However, many "weak people" could potentially run out of scapegoats if Islamophobia is indeed there there way of teasing another individual.
To summarize, it is obvious that this was yet another example of ignorant students that chose an insult that they thought related to this poor boy. If Americans were more well-versed on religions such as Islam,teasing and bullying because of race and religion would not be nearly as severe. The inoculation of such information would be beneficial in the long run.
I think that this violence is completely unjustified. We live in a free country. Citizens should be able to do as they please without being placed in harms way. People should not have their basic rights taken away. It's plain and simple any harm against any ethnicity is just wrong. I think we must re examine the basic rights we are offered. That seems to be the only logical way to fix this problem. Furthermore, it amazes me how we fought long and hard for Civil Rights back in the 1960s, and the problem hasn't gone away it has simply evolved.
Emily Zelter
Although I wish racism would completely disappear, I don't think it will happen because people all around the world always seem to want to pick on others just because of where they come from.
What these kids did to this boy is completely wrong and unjustified. I think that the young boy should have told his parents sooner in order to try and find a quick and effective solution to the bullying his tormentors were committing against him.
Whenever I hear that kids are getting bullied because of where they come from, it completely devastates me, and it makes me so angry to know that kids react in a such a violent manner to show their dislike for those kids who come from other countries.
Even though the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s was very effective, I feel that we have a long way to go before we overcome and crush racism. I really hope that someday this term and action can once and for all fade away from society.
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