Islamophobia in America

My eighth grade history teacher once told me that history repeats itself. He told me that the reason for studying history goes far beyond making polite dinner conversation. By seeing a pattern from the past emerge in the present, we allow ourselves to direct the future. With this in mind, I thought to the present day situation of Islamophobia in America while watching Ethnic Notions, a film exploring the relationship between media's depiction of blacks to their place in society. In the same way that negative stereotypes perpetuated a false image of African-Americans, emerging stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists have also had a detrimental effect on American society. 

This isn't the first time in history where we have seen a certain group been discriminated against unjustly. In the 1930's, while in economic crisis, Adolf Hitler rose to power by uniting Germany and scapegoating the Jewish population in Europe. This scapegoating eventually led to the Holocaust. A few years later, after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Japanese-Americans saw similar discrimination in the form of internment. The film, Ethics Notions, explores the relationship between misrepresentation of blacks in films to their treatment in society from the end of the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. They too, were unfairly scapegoating and blamed for things they shouldn't have been.

When the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11, we came together as a nation, in many ways valuable, but in some ways very dangerous. With the knowledge that the terrorists behind the attacks were extremist Muslims, many Americans became quick to judge the vast majority of the Muslim population–non-radicals. With this in mind, we see a clear trend looking back on history. Discriminating against a large group of people for the actions of few has never ended well. In fact, in the past century, it has resulted in the greatest civil rights violations the world has ever seen. If we are to move forward as a society, we must recognize these patterns from the past so that our future does not pay the price.

To hear more about Islamophobia in America, check out this video from The Economist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXd5oJYQbOY