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Mattson says Hollywood and popular culture in general seem to have done a better job of putting a human face on Muslim adherents than the news media. |
CHICAGO – Nearly five years after the September 11 attacks, American Muslims still face high levels of hatred and suspicion, and political leaders and the news media are mostly to blame, US Muslim leaders said on Friday, September 1.
"During the last five years the Muslim community has been scrutinized by almost all branches of the government and the media to the extent that more than half a million Muslims have been directly touched by this process," said Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
"They continue to face dehumanization and a great trend of Islamophobia," he added, speaking to reporters at the start of the annual meeting of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest yearly gathering of US and Canadian Muslims, Reuters reported.
The September 11 attacks in 2001, which the United States say were planned by the Al Qaeda group of Osama bin Laden, were carried out by Muslim men flying hijacked planes into the World Trade center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.
The US Senate Office Of Research has said that the Arab Americans and the Muslim community have taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Amnesty International also repeatedly said that racial profiling by US law enforcement agencies had grown dramatically in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
Since the attacks, US Muslims, including students, have been championing local campaigns to reach out to fellow Americans and convey the peaceful message of Islam.
Media to Blame
Mujahid said the trends of Islamophobia unfortunately are "worsening," blaming "television driven by media makers" and political leaders for the situation.
He cited President George W. Bush's recent remark that if terrorism is not beaten in Baghdad then Americans will have to fight it in their own streets as a remark that casts suspicions on Muslims in their own country.
Bush made last month another jibe when he called a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists."
Bush upset the Muslim minority, estimated at some seven million, after the Sept. 11 attacks by referring to the global war against terrorism early on as a "crusade," a term which for many Muslims connotes a Christian battle against Islam.
The White House quickly stopped using the word, expressing regrets if it had caused offense.
Ingrid Mattson, newly elected president of ISNA and the first woman to head the group, agreed about the continuing level of problems faced by Muslims.
But she said there was also a growing level of education and understanding across "civil society" that finds Muslim leaders sometimes hard pressed to keep up with demands for speeches and other outreach opportunities.
Hollywood and popular culture in general, she added, seem to have done a better job of putting a human face on Muslim adherents than the news media.
Since the grisly September 11 attacks, US media outlets are quick to associate any foiled or potential act of terrorism with Islam and Muslims.
Muslim leaders regretted a lot of conservative radio and television shows that warn Americans of "militant Islamism, "radical Islamism" and Muslims in general.
Prompt action by US Muslim leaders have forced radio hosts critical of Islam to offer on-air apologies and backtrack on their racist remarks.
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