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Racial Justice and Social Equity

Decades After 9/11, Muslim Americans Say They Are Still Treated Differently

Marwa Abdalla speaks with Midday Edition about how 9/11 still affects how Muslims are currently treated in America during a Zoom interview on September 9, 2021.
KPBS Staff
Marwa Abdalla speaks with Midday Edition about how 9/11 still affects how Muslims are currently treated in America during a Zoom interview on September 9, 2021.
A wave of hate and harassment directed at Muslims across the US began after 9/11. Hate crimes in California jumped more than 15 percent that year, and the number of hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs in America has never returned to pre-9/11 levels. Many local members of the Muslim community found themselves becoming spokespeople for their faith and their community in the years after 9-11.

After the 9/11 attacks, the number of hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs in America increased.

Immediately after 9/11 there was a 15% increase in hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs in California.

Decades After 9/11, Muslim Americans Say They Are Still Treated Differently
Listen to this story by Melissa Mae.

Marwa Abdalla was a college student during the 9/11 attacks.

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“Like so many in the United States and around the world, I watched the events of 9/11 unfold in real time and as someone who identifies as Muslim, as someone who identifies as an American, I was just horrified,” Abdalla told KPBS Midday Edition. “Not only was I horrified at the loss of innocent life, but as the events unfolded, as we came to know about the attacks, I felt like my own faith had been implicated in a way that completely went against everything that I knew of Islam and everything that I had ever heard about my faith and the way that it should be practiced.”

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She is now a doctoral student of communications at U.C. San Diego, and has gone on to make a career of building understanding between non-Muslims and the Muslim American community.

“Nationwide, Muslims are the most likely faith group to report that they’ve been religiously discriminated against. Half of Muslim families say that their children have been bullied in public schools and 30% of those instances involve a teacher or administrator,” Abdalla said. "My research in San Diego has shown that we are not immune to those problems. Muslims are discriminated against. They do face a whole host of different types of prejudices and discrimination and Muslim children in our school systems do face bullying both from their peers and from their teachers.”

Abdalla said Muslim perpetrators accused of plotting a violent crime receive 770% more media coverage than a non-Muslim counterpart, and twice as much coverage if a Muslim perpetrator carries out ideologically motivated violence.

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“Media coverage does have a lot to do with what Muslim Americans are experiencing everyday in their lives, the types of discrimination they face, and I’m really committed to helping equip journalists cover a very diverse and complex set of communities in the United States,” Abdalla said.

She said the media even uses certain words to describe Muslims more than other faith groups or cultures.

“The word 'terror' and 'terrorism' are associated with Muslim perceived perpetrators far more often than they are others, even though law enforcement agencies such as the FBI have consistently stated that white supremacists and right wing extremists pose a far greater threat to national security,” Abdalla noted.

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According to Abdalla, treatment of Muslims in the United States can improve once people realize that Muslims were and are an integral part of society.

“50% of U.S Muslims are native born, so Islam is often framed as foreign or other, but Islam is an intricate part and Muslims have played an intricate role in the building of this country,” Abdalla continued. “They are not just good and bad from the security lens that we often frame them through.”

Abdalla has partnered with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding to create “Covering American Muslims Objectively and Creatively: A Guide For Media Professionals.”