The Best Solution to Hate and Violence Among Americans?
Community Unity. Lena, Undergraduate Student (UM-Dearborn) The post-9/11 United States setting saw portrayals of Arab Americans represented as violent and “other” increase in spaces such as everyday media, creating a culture of fear surrounding Arab Americans from non-Arab Americans. The fear towards Arab Americans has resulted in hate-based crimes on an everyday scale, such as verbal and physical harassment. In fact, harassment of Arab Americans climbed so high in the post-9/11 world that in 2011 the Department of Justice held a summit addressing Arab and Muslim American harassment and acknowledging the violence towards the group. Many Arab and Muslim American citizens and communities live in constant fear due to the harassment they face (Hendricks 2014). The fear has caused these communities to redirect their daily lives in order to stay safe in the public sphere. The anxiety of non-Arab Americans towards Arab Americans, and the anxiety of Arab Americans towards strangers that may harass them, has created a divide between the groups so that even if they live within the same communities, they do not engage with one another. By continually allowing both groups to fear each other, we allow hatred and subsequent crime and violence to grow. Politico reports that the United States government has utilized a large part of our national budget and efforts to keep Americans safe. However, Arab Americans are still facing threats as evidenced by the 2011 Department of Justice report, stemming from non-Arab Americans responding to negative imagery of Arab Americans seen in the media. To truly combat fear, hatred, and subsequent violence towards Arab Americans, and the American population as a whole, the United States should allocate part of its protection funds and efforts to promoting community dialogue. By spending money on creating spaces within communities across the United States that encourage dialogue and community engagement, hatred, fear, and subsequent violence can diminish towards our fellow citizens, to be replaced by understanding, trust, and peace. Imagine that part of our funds and efforts went to actively create spaces within communities around the United States for citizens of different ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds to come together and discuss the fears and misunderstandings we are having of each other. Research by Hendricks et al. in “Beyond the Numbers...” find that increased dialogue among community members of different and similar backgrounds and experiences can alleviate fear towards other groups besides the immediate ones citizens are engaged in. Hendricks et al. highlight that communication among the public can educate both “communities and law enforcement” (Hendricks 2014) about “hate” (Hendricks) but also about where “anxiety and fear” (Hendricks 2014) stem from. Aligning with this solution, one of the recommendations the Department of Justice has proposed to combat fear and hate crimes towards Arab and Muslim Americans, and towards Americans as a whole, is promoting engagement between American communities. That the United States recognizes that active community dialogue is a significant and effective method to reducing violence in the country is an important step towards building dialogue and meeting spaces that can promote peace. I hope the next step is actively using our efforts and funds to make these spaces a concrete reality present within every community across the nation. In doing so, Americans would be able to utilize their thoughts, feelings, and voices in a positive and communal manner to address and mitigate their fears. References: 1. Department of Justice. n.d. “Confronting Discrimination in the Post-9/11 Era: Challenges and Opportunities Ten Years Later.” Retrieved (https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/16/post911summit_report_ 2012-04.pdf). 2. Gerhauser, Patricia Tanner. 2014. “Framing Arab-Americans and Muslims in U.S. Media.” Sociological Viewpoints 30(1):7–35. 3. Hagee, Michael W. and James M. Loy. 2012. “What It Takes to Keep U.S. Safe Today.” POLITICO. Retrieved (https://www.politico.com/story/2012/03/what-it-takes-to-keep-us-safe-today-074509). 4. Hendricks, Nicole J., Christopher W. Ortiz, Naomi Sugie, and Joel Miller. 2007. “Beyond the Numbers: Hate Crimes and Cultural Trauma Within Arab American Immigrant Communities.” International Review of Victimology 14:95–113.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
About
CrimBytes is a space for student musings on crime, media, and culture. ArchivesCategories |