Posted: 11.07.02 @ 11 p.m.
Sniper Arrests Spur Fear Among US Muslims
 
By Akhilesh Upadhyay | SPECIAL TO SACOBSERVER.COM

NEW YORK (IPS) - When Manizha Naderi first heard of the Washington sniper, her mind raced back to the harassment she faced last year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I hoped, God, please don't let the sniper be a Muslim," said the Afghan-born woman, who has been living in New York since 1984.

That city was not the best place to be a Muslim, or a Sikh, last year. Naderi's eight-year-old daughter received death threats and remained in police protection for two months while she went to school.

"Then the other day, I once again heard people talking about Islam and violence on the radio," Naderi said.

To the chagrin of many, public suspicion of Muslims had begun well before the arrest on Oct. 24 of John Allen Muhammad, 37, a convert to Islam.

"The unknown sniper became Muslim, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, with al-Qaeda links, even before the world had found out who he was," said Muhsin Alidina of Imam Al-Khoei Islamic Centre, which has several thousand congregants with Arab, South Asian and African American backgrounds.

"The attempt to link Islam with violence is deeply disturbing," Alidina said. "When I found that the sniper was a Muslim, I said, 'Oh God, not again.'"

To thousands of New York residents of South Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds - of both Islam and non-Islam faiths - the sniper saga has revived ugly memories of race-related attacks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon.

Though few fear a backlash like last year's, they say the attitude of people from other faiths will further harden against them.

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States, with some estimates putting the number of its followers at million, most of them immigrants and African Americans.

Many are visibly relieved that the sniper is not of South Asian or Middle Eastern origin. But others say that makes little difference, arguing that most of the American media is fixated on Islam.

"While Islam-bashing is nothing new in America, the media's treatment of the sniper incident has again stoked the public paranoia against Muslims," Alidina said. "Our community members feel that they are being singled out for irresponsible acts of an errant individual."

In reference to the sniper's name - John Allen Muhammad - Alidina said, "No one is discussing 'John' and 'Allen', but focusing solely on 'Muhammad.'"

Equally disturbing, he says, is the silence of US leaders. "By their silence they aren't helping us - and America as a whole. Isn't this a great nation?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has cautioned against speculation and stereotyping based on the name of one suspect.

"We are concerned that because a suspect in this case has the last name of 'Muhammad', American Muslims will now face scapegoating and bias," CAIR's Nihad Awad said.

"Police reports indicate the suspects acted alone, based on their own motivations. There is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims."

Two days before MuhammadÕs arrest, hate literature was distributed at an Islamic centre in Hawaii warning that Muslims there would be watched by "patriotic residents."

According to CAIR, there have been several other anti-Muslim incidents in the last two months - a shooting attack on an Ohio mosque, vandalism at Islamic centers in Virginia and Idaho, and the discovery of a detailed plan to attack some 50 Florida mosques and schools.

A CAIR study found that a majority of American Muslims have experienced bias or discrimination since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

While the United States has claimed significant inroads in its battle against global terrorism since last September, there is also a darker side to the campaign, argues Arun Sharma, a South Asian columnist.

Innocent humans have lost lives because they looked like Taliban in turban - the Sikhs - and Arab Americans live in perpetual fear, he observes, but the American media ignores their sufferings.

"Our community has recovered from last year's attack," Inder Jit Singh, a leader of New York's Sikh community, told IPS. The Sikhs paid a heavy price in the wake of 9/11, but there are no fears of ethnic backlash now, adds the writer on Sikhism.

Their turban mistaken for the head wrap worn by the Taliban leader, Osama bin Laden, many Sikhs came under attacks in the United States after 9/11; one was killed.

In harsh criticism of the US media, a South Asian Association of Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT) study last year found that the national news media had consistently failed to report incidents of hate crime against South Asians and Middle Easterners.

"The perception among national media organizations was that the hate crime attacks were isolated incidents," the study said.

Combing through 10,000 articles published in more than 500 daily newspapers, the study documented 645 bias incidents in the first week after the Sept. 11 attacks. There were close to 20 homicides, according to Debasish Mishra, vice president of SAALT.

"The anti-Islam feeling is again evident," Mishra said. "It remains to be seen how the (sniper) incident plays out in the minds of the Americans. But it will be hard to conclude that a lot of Americans will not look at Muslims in a certain way now that the sniper turns out to be Muslim."

Arabs and South Asians have been routinely harassed in "random checks" at US airports, where their skin tones attract suspicious looks and intense inspections, says columnist Sharma.

"America's trust, confidence and tolerance are compromised, possibly forever. One cannot even measure the impact of social, economic and employment discrimination, as it is always difficult to measure."

This story comes special to NNPA from IPS.