The Problem

Islamophobia as fear, hatred, and prejudice against Muslims is a form of racism that results in religious intolerance, persecution, and ethnic profiling. Islamophobia in the United States is rooted in notions of orientalism and presumptions of inherent violent behavior which uphold tropes of Muslim men as terrorists and women as oppressed. Islamophobia exists at both the interpersonal level, wherein suspicion of Muslims is normalized, and structurally, as violence against Muslim communities is linked to state-enforced policies such as those implemented after September 11, 2001. Examples of such policies include the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS; colloquially known as the first Muslim Registry), Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), policing via War on Terror initiatives such as the USA Patriot Act (2002) and the NYPD Muslim Surveillance Program, as well as advances for both the National Security Agency and US Foreign Intelligence, including warrantless surveillance of telecommunications and expansion of the obtaining and sharing of information on US citizens and foreigners.

Up to eight months after 9/11, Muslims reported discrimination that included FBI raids of religious organizations, damage to mosques, vandalism to businesses, racial/ethnic profiling, verbal harassment, and physical violence. In addition, various non-Muslim ethnic minority and diaspora communities were impacted by surveillance and discrimination with a total of more than 1,700 acts of hate violence toward those “appearing to be of Arab/South Asian descent” occurring after September 11. During this period, predominantly Muslim ethnic enclaves across the US experienced a crisis of citizenship linked to changing government policies, increasingly restrictive immigration regulations (including mass deportations), scrutiny by law enforcement officials (such as increased surveillance) and the reinforcement of citizen surveillance, which resulted in an Islamophobic backlash linked to bias crimes, hate speech, and internal community changes. Mechanisms of citizen surveillance impacted vulnerable groups via stigmatization, racial profiling, and interference with religious freedom, while damaging law enforcement and minority community relations. In recent years, political rhetoric and policies (such as Trump's travel ban), are reflective of the normalization of prejudice towards racial/ethnic and religious minority groups, Islamophobia is inextricably linked to other social inequalities, including immigration, anti-Black racism, racial/ethnic and religious profiling, and violence against Muslim women.