NYC-Feature Story-World Trade Center

NYC-1993-04-11a
Mohamad examines prejudicial attitudes toward Arab-Americans and Muslims in the media, following the Persian Gulf War and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The Media War on Arabs

By Mohamad Bazzi

FBI and police officials say it is the center of a Middle East terrorist conspiracy bent on destroying the American way of life. They claim the shabby pulpit inside was used to preach a Muslim jihad, or holy war, against Western civilization. Authorities are quick to point out that Mohammed Salameh, one of the suspects in the Feb. 26 bombing of the World Trade Center, might have worshiped there.

But the Al Salam mosque-spiritual home to Jersey City's Muslim community-is nothing more than a small room with little furniture that sits above an insurance company and gold trading store along the bustling John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

Inside, a makeshift wooden pulpit stands in one corner, and the walls are lined with shelves of holy books. There are no fancy benches or stained-glass windows-just two glass chandeliers that hang from an old, plaster ceiling.

Area Muslims (mostly Egyptians and Palestinians) say the mosque is their only place of worship. They contend that their entire culture is under attack and, considering past experience with anti-Arab racism in America, they're probably right.

Media Madness

On Friday, March 5, a day after Salameh's arrest and the Muslim holy day, people leaving afternoon prayer sessions at the mosque were surrounded outside by reporters and TV cameras.

Out of anger and frustration, many refused to speak. The few that did spoke of being victimized and stereotyped. But the media didn't pay much attention. Neither did the guys who passed by the mosque that afternoon in trucks, shouting: "They should kill them all," and, "Why don't you go back where you came from?"

The media siege continued for several days. So did dozens of prank calls and drive-by slurs. Then, on Sunday, March 7, Bronx Rabbi Avi Weiss led a protest across the street from the now infamous mosque. And a few days later, a Jersey City man was arrested and charged with breaking one of the mosque's windows.

So how can all this happen without public outcry?

Arab-Americans have long been the forgotten minority of American society. That's why anti-Arab hate crimes surged during the Persian Gulf crisis-and may rise once again in the wake of the Trade Center bombing.

Anti-Arab Crimes

According to a report by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), while only five hate crimes against Arab-Americans were reported for the first seven months of 1990, 34 such crimes were logged for the four months immediately following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August. Nearly 60 hate crimes were reported in January, 1991 alone, most of them after the war broke out. Many more cases, of course, went unreported.

Some in the ADC and other civil rights groups say things could have been worse. With nearly two and a half million Arab-Americans living throughout the country, the potential for widespread bigotry and hate crimes could have crippled the Arab community. Many believe that former President Ronald Reagan's "war on terrorism" of the 1980s (code words for a war on uncooperative Arabs and Muslims) laid the foundation for such a catastrophe. But the problem of anti-Arab racism in America has even deeper roots.

Arabs have been portrayed as the troublemakers of the Middle East since the end of World War II and the creation of Israel in 1948. The Gulf war was only the most recent example.

From the outset of the huge military buildup against Iraq, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was portrayed as the Hitler of the Middle East-a madman bent on world domination and the destruction of Israel (thus reinforcing painful images and memories of the Holocaust).

Crossing the Line

The demonization of Saddam Hussein went way beyond criticizing him and his policies. It was as if he were evil itself. Few TV and print news outlets explored the reasons for his popularity or gave the conflict any historical perspective.

That paved the way for gross anti-Arab racism in the press. The New York Times, for example, ran a disgusting cartoon on its opinion page during the height of the war titled, "The Descent of Man." It showed Hussein as lower than a snake on the chain of evolution. He was dirty and had a cloud of flies around his head.

Organizations like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) blasted the cartoon as racist. FAIR said the cartoon is reminiscent of Nazi propaganda which presented Jews as sub-human, and KKK propaganda that portrays Blacks as related to apes.

The cartoon also implied that Hussein (a national leader) was genetically inferior-a slur against all Arabs. It was a fitting statement for the most respected newspaper in a country where many see Arabs as "ragheads" who ride around the desert on camels lusting after White women.

This kind of stereotyping seems to have re-emerged in the past few weeks. For instance, the Daily News last month ran a front page photo of a bearded Salameh, the Trade Center bombing suspect, under a headline that screamed: "Face Of Hate." New York Newsday ran the same picture with the headline, "Portrait Of A Loser."

But some journalists still had enough sense to see through the anti-Arab paranoia. Betty Liu Ebron wrote in the Daily News: "Even The New York Times could not resist describing bombing suspect Mohammed Salameh's 'beakish nose.' Would the paper dare mention a Jewish suspect's 'beakish nose'? Or a Black suspect's 'thick lips'? Or a 'slant-eyed' Asian suspect?"

Of course not!

"Think About It":
Prompts for discussion and/or writing:

—This article describes anti-Arab bigotry and hate crimes after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and similar incidents are now happening across the country following the recent terrorist attacks. What is your view of the recent acts of violence against innocent Arab-Americans? What could be done to stop them?

—Have you experienced a similar form of stereotyping and victimization? In what ways?

—Mohamed says that few newspapers or TV shows gave any historical or political background for the Persian Gulf War. Do you feel you know enough about the current tensions between the U.S. and Arab countries in the Mid-East? What questions do you have and what would you like to know?

—Group activity. Students can work in pairs or small groups. Have the students list common stereotypes they have heard about Muslims and/or Arab-Americans, and where they think these stereotypes came from. Have the groups share their lists with the larger group for a general discussion.