Running head: MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS

Muslim and Arab Americans Steven Bouton Ethnicity/125 November 3, 2011 Jere Wilson

MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS Muslim and Arab Americans Muslims and Arabs are two different entities altogether, but many people get these two confused and assume it is one in the same. Arabs are an ethnicity or race. Arabs include Muslims, Christian, and Jews, and are people from Middle Eastern countries. Muslims are followers of Islam, a form of religion. Anyone can be Muslim that embraces the religion of Islam.

After 9/11 many Americans have stereotypical views against Arab and Muslims and have been problematic, even for American born citizens, arrested or help for long periods of time against their will. Americans see a Muslim or Arab and assume they are a terrorist. Americans think Muslims and Arabs are the same and they all mean to do America harm. Most Americans do not know that Christianity and the Muslim faith are oddly very similar. In fact, it is nearly an identical religious other than Muslims believe Jesus was just a prophet of Allah. Significant policy changes occurred post 9/11 toward Arabs and Muslims. In certain countries a twenty-day mandatory hold on all non-immigrant visa applications submitted by men aged eighteen to forty-five from twenty-six countries, most of them Arab or Muslim (2004) Cainkar. Another significant policy change towards Arabs and Muslims happened in November 2001 following 9/11 when the Justice Department announced its intention to interview some 5,000 individuals who had come to the U. S. on non-immigrant visas from Arab and Muslim countries (2004) Cainkar. Not only did it effect immigrants from foreign nations, but also American citizens, In late June 2002, the Department of Justice issued an internal memo to the INS and U. S. Customs requesting that they seek out and search all Yemenis, including American citizens, entering the U. S. As a result, Yemeni Americans were removed from planes and boarding lines, waiting hours for security clearances (2004) Cainkar.

MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS Arabs and Muslims have had a hard time in America regardless if they were born in the Middle East or a natural born American citizen. Americans look at Arabs and Muslims in the same light, as a terrorist of sorts. Not all Arabs are Muslims, and not all Muslims are radical.

MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS References Cainkar, L. (2004). Post 9/11 domestic policies affecting U.S. Arabs and Muslims. Retrieved from

http://http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/comparative_studies_of_south_asia_africa_and_the_m iddle_east/v024/24.1cainkar02.html