Reports of har***ment and discrimination against Muslims in the United States are growing, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). A recent USA TODAY/Gallup poll, which surveyed 1,007 Americans also shows strong anti-Muslim sentiments. Such hard feelings damage the mental health of American Muslims, according to new studies by the American Psychological ***ociation.
According to CAIR, reports of discrimination against Muslims sharply increased in the first six months after 9/11, fell in 2002, but climbed again after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The number of ***ault or other discriminatory complaints filed with CAIR increased from 1,019 in 2003 to 1,972 in 2005, says Arsalan Iftikhar, national legal director.
"I don't think there's a Muslim out there who hasn't felt some kind of fallout from 9/11," says Jafar Siddiqui, 55, a real estate agent who has been a U.S. citizen for 20 years. "I myself have been invited to 'go home' at least once a month."
Another victim of har***ment is Motaz Elshafi, a 28-year-old software engineer, who received an email at work last month titled: "Dear Terrorist." The email has been sent to all Muslims working at Cisco Systems in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a few days after the Mumbai train bombings. It warned that such attacks wouldn’t intimidate people, but only make them stronger.
I was furious," says Elshafi. "What did I have to do with this violence?"
According to the USA TODAY/Gallup poll, 39% of those surveyed said they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. Some even said that they want Muslims, including U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID “as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States."
The survey also found that 22% wouldn’t want Muslims as neighbors.
”Double burden”
A new study, carried by psychologist Mona Amer of Yale University School of Medicine, suggests that there is a close relationship between hate feelings and the mental health of U.S. Muslims. About half of the 611 Arab Americans surveyed in the study had symptoms of clinical depression, compared with 20% in an average U.S. group, Amer says.
Moreover, the number of Arab-Americans and Muslims who seek mental health counseling have increased since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., Amer says. Also many imams report a surge in worshippers seeking help for anxiety and stress related to possible discrimination.
"I don't think Americans understand what's happened. Muslims have the same anxieties and anguish about terrorism as everyone else in the U.S. At the same time, they're being blamed for it. They're carrying a double burden,” Amer says.
The Iraq War also affects the mental health of many U.S. Muslims, according to psychologist Ibrahim Kira, who says that watching TV news about the war leads to post-traumatic stress disorder, high blood pressure, headaches and stomach trouble.
The war also creates special problems for Iraqi-Americans, although in general they share a key challenge with other Muslims: lack of trust from other Americans. According to a June Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, 54% Americans said they wouldn't vote for a Muslim president.
Muslim children “traumatized”
Researchers say those who get support from their friends are least vulnerable to becoming depressed due to bigotry. The most affected are children of recent Muslim immigrants, women who wear the Islamic headscarf, and Iraqi-Americans, according to reports from the psychological ***ociation.
Amelia Derr, the education director of Hate Free Zone Washington, an education and advocacy group, says that she had seen some Muslim children so traumatized by violent bigotry that she wonders whether they'll ever recover.
Last October, Derr says, a Seattle high school junior who had faced verbal har***ment was ***aulted in gym cl***. The boy suffered a hemorrhage behind his eye and a collapsed lung. "The good thing is that the student who did it was convicted of a hate crime,” she said.
But the beaten boy doesn’t want to go back to school, Derr says. "He's terrified. You can see how damaged he has been. He won't look you in the eye; he just shrinks back. He won't talk."
According to CAIR, reports of discrimination against Muslims sharply increased in the first six months after 9/11, fell in 2002, but climbed again after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The number of ***ault or other discriminatory complaints filed with CAIR increased from 1,019 in 2003 to 1,972 in 2005, says Arsalan Iftikhar, national legal director.
"I don't think there's a Muslim out there who hasn't felt some kind of fallout from 9/11," says Jafar Siddiqui, 55, a real estate agent who has been a U.S. citizen for 20 years. "I myself have been invited to 'go home' at least once a month."
Another victim of har***ment is Motaz Elshafi, a 28-year-old software engineer, who received an email at work last month titled: "Dear Terrorist." The email has been sent to all Muslims working at Cisco Systems in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a few days after the Mumbai train bombings. It warned that such attacks wouldn’t intimidate people, but only make them stronger.
I was furious," says Elshafi. "What did I have to do with this violence?"
According to the USA TODAY/Gallup poll, 39% of those surveyed said they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. Some even said that they want Muslims, including U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID “as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States."
The survey also found that 22% wouldn’t want Muslims as neighbors.
”Double burden”
A new study, carried by psychologist Mona Amer of Yale University School of Medicine, suggests that there is a close relationship between hate feelings and the mental health of U.S. Muslims. About half of the 611 Arab Americans surveyed in the study had symptoms of clinical depression, compared with 20% in an average U.S. group, Amer says.
Moreover, the number of Arab-Americans and Muslims who seek mental health counseling have increased since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., Amer says. Also many imams report a surge in worshippers seeking help for anxiety and stress related to possible discrimination.
"I don't think Americans understand what's happened. Muslims have the same anxieties and anguish about terrorism as everyone else in the U.S. At the same time, they're being blamed for it. They're carrying a double burden,” Amer says.
The Iraq War also affects the mental health of many U.S. Muslims, according to psychologist Ibrahim Kira, who says that watching TV news about the war leads to post-traumatic stress disorder, high blood pressure, headaches and stomach trouble.
The war also creates special problems for Iraqi-Americans, although in general they share a key challenge with other Muslims: lack of trust from other Americans. According to a June Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, 54% Americans said they wouldn't vote for a Muslim president.
Muslim children “traumatized”
Researchers say those who get support from their friends are least vulnerable to becoming depressed due to bigotry. The most affected are children of recent Muslim immigrants, women who wear the Islamic headscarf, and Iraqi-Americans, according to reports from the psychological ***ociation.
Amelia Derr, the education director of Hate Free Zone Washington, an education and advocacy group, says that she had seen some Muslim children so traumatized by violent bigotry that she wonders whether they'll ever recover.
Last October, Derr says, a Seattle high school junior who had faced verbal har***ment was ***aulted in gym cl***. The boy suffered a hemorrhage behind his eye and a collapsed lung. "The good thing is that the student who did it was convicted of a hate crime,” she said.
But the beaten boy doesn’t want to go back to school, Derr says. "He's terrified. You can see how damaged he has been. He won't look you in the eye; he just shrinks back. He won't talk."
. I'm finding it increasingly hard to optimistic about the prospect of peaceful coexistance between Muslims and Westerners within one society. There just seems to be so much mutual disrespect and even hate.
