Muslim Americans: Discrimination In The United States

Muslim Americans have faced a variety of different discrimination in their history with the main form of discrimination lying within the connection between Islam and terrorism. Due to the fact that there are many different cultures who fall into the Muslim group, there are some cultures who experience more discrimination than others. For example, “Arab South Asian Muslims have experienced bigotry because they are Muslim but also because of their perceived connection with whichever country the United States has been either at war or has had less than amicable relations” (Lum, 2011, p. 371). The historical discrimination of Muslim Americans can be found in three different phases: 1) the founding of World War II; 2) post-World War II; 3) post- September 11, 2001. Some Muslims may have established themselves in America before the United States was even founded, however, they became more widely known post- World War II. According to Lum, there is evidence that was found that many of the African Americans who were enslaved were
This was because African Americans began to migrate over to the United States, causing not only a physical migration, but also a spiritual migration. Once the Muslim population began to increase, Muslims became more involved politically, which was a dramatic change being they were always sitting there with a quiet existence. During this time, Muslims faced more discrimination for their race than they did with their religion. Both the positive and negative attitudes that people had for Muslim Americans was found more in the American Government rather than “at work, in school, or in the neighborhood” (Lum, 2011, p. 371). For the majority of this time period, having Muslims in America was not viewed as a problem during this time period. Once communism was defeated and the Cold War ended, America’s foreign policy began to view Islam as a threat