Briefing on Civil Rights Issues Facing Muslims and Arab Americans in Minnesota Post-September 11
Before the Minnesota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
February 12, 2002
Executive Summary
On February 12, 2002, the Minnesota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing to examine the civil rights implications of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Muslims and Arab Americans in the state and to supplement the Commission s national review. Two representatives from the Minnesota chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) spoke at the briefing: Sorya Amra, the chapter s president, and Fouzi Slisli, its media director. They provided a snapshot of issues facing Muslims and Arab Americans, and those perceived to be, in Minnesota in the months after the attacks. Topics discussed included hate crimes and discrimination stemming from September 11, civil liberties concerns over the government s antiterrorism measures, the media s coverage of the treatment of Muslims and Arab Americans, and the ADC s response to these issues. The full transcript of the briefing follows this summary.
For Muslims and Arab Americans, shock and grief after September 11 were mixed with fear of reprisal. Our community has not, in a sense, been allowed to grieve like the rest of Americans since, from the word go, they have had to watch out, Fouzi Slisli said. Hate crime statistics gathered in the weeks after the attacks showed that concern was warranted. The ADC reported a surge in hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans in the aftermath of September 11. People became targets simply for sharing a similar appearance or cultural or religious background of the terrorists. Although many high-profile retaliatory acts occurred elsewhere, in Minnesota there were reports of vandalism, verbal harassment, death threats, and physical assaults. Our community has suffered a great backlash throughout the United States and also specifically here in Minnesota, Sorya Amra said.
The September 11 backlash has taken many forms and been directed at men and women, Muslims and sometimes non-Muslims. Women who wear hijabs, or headscarves, that make them easily identifiable as Muslims are particularly susceptible to be being harassed. In addition to facing hostile comments, some women have had their hijabs pulled off by passersby, Ms. Amra said. Arab-owned businesses received threatening and harassing telephone calls and a rock was thrown through one storefront window. At the University of Minnesota, the president of the Arab Student Association received a death threat, as did a professor at nearby Augsburg College. Arab American and Indian students have reported verbal harassment on their campuses, with one Iranian woman saying she was called a terrorist in class. The most violent attacks the panelists described were against a Muslim woman who was nearly run down in a parking lot by an apparently vengeful driver and another who was punched in the stomach outside a Minneapolis area grocery store. Many backlash victims have been from Minnesota s Somali community, one of the largest in the nation. Sikhs have also been targeted, presumably because some people hold the false assumption that men wearing turbans are Arab or Muslim.
Complaints of discrimination in workplaces, schools, and airports also soared after September 11. Ms. Amra said numerous employment discrimination issues have arisen and related the case of a truck driver who was fired after the attacks because of security concerns. The ADC, she said, was working with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to resolve the case. At the Minneapolis airport, three Iraqi men were forced to disembark from an airplane and reconnect with another airline because the pilot was uncomfortable having them as passengers. Incidents such as these fueled already heightened fear and suspicion of the Muslim community.
About two months after September 11, hate crime and discrimination complaints started to taper off, but for many Muslims and Arab Americans fear only escalated that the government was compromising their civil liberties with its antiterrorism measures. As one component of its war on terrorism, the government began interviewing men of Middle Eastern background in the United States on visas in hopes of developing leads and gathering information to prevent future attacks. The Minnesota Arab community, Sorya Amra said, was generally very accepting of the FBI voluntary interviews. The interviews did, however, trigger complaints, according to Fouzi Slisli. First, some alleged they were not informed that answering questions was voluntary. For many recent immigrants, civil liberties is an unfamiliar concept and authorities are always to be obeyed. Nobody paid attention to our cultural sensitivities, Mr. Slisli said. Others complained that law enforcement agents showed up at their doors unannounced instead of sending letters requesting an interview. In a few cases, when the Arab family was not at home, the officers interviewed their neighbors, again raising suspicion of people who were not considered suspects in the attacks.
The media have often failed to capture the real issues surrounding the civil liberties debate, said Fouzi Slisli. Reporters, for example, have talked broadly about everyone relinquishing some civil liberties in exchange for security, when in fact it is mainly the Arab and Muslim communities who will give up their rights. And only one newspaper article had presented the perspective of men interviewed after the attacks; others focused on the law enforcement or government side. Conversely, many local journalists had reported comprehensively on post-September 11 discrimination and racial profiling, and done explanatory pieces on Islam, he said.
The Minnesota chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has tried to stem the September 11 backlash through increased community education and outreach. It has partnered with other civil rights groups and worked with the EEOC to resolve discrimination complaints. The chapter s president spoke positively about some law enforcement actions, noting that the FBI contacted her shortly after September 11 to inquire about backlash and offer assistance investigating any suspected hate crimes, and she described the local police department s follow-up to bias incidents as good. But protecting the rights of Muslims and Arab Americans will be an ongoing challenge as the war on terrorism continues.