The impact on American Muslims after the September 11 incident and Its Countermeasures
Gao Ping
Nanjing University
On September 11, 2001, there was a terrorist attack in the United States that could change the course of world history. According to US officials, Al Qaeda, which believes in Islamic fundamentalism, has planned and carried out a series of terrorist activities. Subsequently, "anti-terrorism" has become an important issue in the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States government. In this context, the American Muslim community, because of its dual characteristics, was greatly impacted after the September 11 incident. In order to safeguard national security, the U.S. government has implemented a series of laws, regulations and government actions to ensure that the country is not attacked again by terrorists. However, these efforts at the government level have led to a sudden increase in racial / religious induction against Muslim groups in the United States, which has greatly violated their civil rights. At the social level, American Muslims in the post-9 / 11 era suffered from various prejudices, misunderstandings, discrimination and even hate crimes, and their work, study, life and other aspects were seriously affected. For the huge impact of the 9 / 11 incident, American Muslim groups firmly expressed their anti-terrorism position and actively participated in various social and public affairs; in the political election, they also took the initiative to express the group's demands through votes.
The introduction part of this paper mainly includes the background of the topic, the research summary and the framework of the paper. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to Muslim groups in the United States, including three parts: a brief history of Muslim immigrants in the United States, demographic statistics, and a review of the history of social prejudice. This chapter first reviews the five waves of immigrants that the United States has experienced since the second half of the 19th century; then, in the demographic part, it discusses the ethnic diversity of American Muslims and defines the meaning of "Muslims" in this paper; finally, it expounds the prejudice suffered by American Muslims since the second half of the 20th century, It provides a historical perspective for the impact of the post-9.11 era. The second chapter mainly discusses the impact of a series of official actions of the U.S. government on Muslim groups, including seven laws and regulations or government actions: Patriot Act, special registration system, extension of naturalization application, preventive arrest action, voluntary interview action, arresting fugitive action and front-line action. In the process of law enforcement, the authorities interrogated, arrested and even deported many American Muslims. These public policies aimed at safeguarding national security have damaged the legitimate rights of Muslim groups to varying degrees. The third chapter mainly expounds the influence of American Muslims on the social level, through listing the relevant cases, in order to present the various social pressures faced by Muslim groups after 9.11: being harassed by other people's words; facing hate crimes endangering personal safety; being discriminated by the workplace, the salary level drops; female Muslims often suffer prejudice due to wearing headscarves.
The second chapter and the third chapter, together, present the impact that American Muslims suffered after 9 / 11 from the government and society. The fourth chapter mainly discusses the response of American Muslims to the above impact from three aspects: many Muslim organizations condemned terrorism at the first time, indicating that terrorists are criminals who kill civilians and cannot represent Islam; they actively participate in social and public affairs, Strengthen cooperation with the government and carry out activities such as "mosque open day" to promote exchanges among different social groups; in the presidential election after 9 / 11, express dissatisfaction with President Bush / Republican Party by ballot. The conclusion of this paper first summarizes the main part of the paper; then, it uses the views of two scholars to explain the reasons why American Muslims are impacted in the post-9.11 era: the experience of Muslims not only reflects the historical characteristics of American society, but also reflects the shadow of civilization conflict; finally, it considers that the efforts of Muslims are combined with the reflection of American society, It is helpful to solve this historical problem.
Keywords: 9 / 11 incident; America; Muslim; shock; response;
Tutor: Tan Shulin;