Muslims and Arab Americans: A New "Crisis of Visibility"

Antonio A. Chiareli, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Sociology

Recent scholarship on race and ethnic relations in America continues to give strength to some well established theories on the causes of intergroup tension and discrimination. For Aguirre and Turner (2001), one particular factor that continues to play an important role in the dynamics of inter-group relations is that of a group’s identifiability in a society in which it holds a subordinate or minority status. What seems clear from the research is that a high level of visibility in minority groups has a largely negative impact on that group’s status in such a society. Determinants of group visibility may include skin color, language or accent, cultural practices, ethnic food and clothing, religious membership and related rituals, stereotypical representations in mainstream culture, and so on. As Almaguer (1994), Farley (2001), and others have shown, in societies that have historically been stratified by race and ethnicity – and the United States is still no exception – the greater the racial and ethnic differences between minority groups and the majority, the higher the propensity for tension-filled interaction between the dominant “core” and those considered to be “outsiders.”

Historically, the groups that have been most negatively affected by these dynamics in our society have been Native Americans and African Americans. However, in the last twenty years a marked increase in immigration from Western and Central Asian countries has contributed to the higher visibility of these groups, especially in our large cities. Farley (2001) and Pedraza and Rumbaut (1996), for instance, count among such groups some Chinese, Asian Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians (Persians), and Israelis. We also find groups largely categorized as Arabs, coming from countries such as Egypt, Yemen, the Palestinian territory, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. Most of these groups settle in the large urban centers in America, such as Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, New Jersey, New York, Boston, and especially Detroit. Although second and third generation Arab Americans have assimilated well into American culture and society, and are predominantly middle class, more recent immigrants are poorer and have tended to primarily cluster in highly visible ethnic enclaves in these metropolitan contexts. Many among these Asian groups are also of Muslim religious background.

In the case of Muslims and Arab-Americans, we can observe what appear to be two interrelated trends in the last twenty years. First, their population, while still relatively small, as shown below, has been one of the fastest growing in the U.S., not unlike Asian Americans in general. Second, the overt expression of hostility toward Muslim and Arab people has also increased. This has been the case particularly when U.S. foreign policy has imposed sanctions or conducted military action against Middle Eastern countries, or when the government has indicted Arab individuals in high profile terrorist cases (e.g., the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis in Iran; the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces and the ensuing Gulf War; and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, in New York City). Arguably, the link between these two observations is higher identifiability, and the adverse, xenophobic reactions that this visibility has often caused in our society because of a “sense of threat” (physical, religious, economic, or otherwise) that these “foreign” groups may represent, especially to the white, Anglo-Saxon core.

The tragic events of the past weeks have only added to the problem of identifiability for Muslims and Arabs in America. In fact, I would argue that these groups have reached the point of a new “crisis of visibility,” in that many members of their communities have become targets of airport “profiling,” hate, discrimination, and intimidation. The fact that the American media continues to present these groups in an unbalanced way, often reducing discussions involving them to issues of terrorism, anti-immigration sentiment and rhetoric, angry Islamic fundamentalism, and the like, has also helped to create a backlash against these groups and cultures.

No doubt, a complicating factor in the current state of affairs is the public’s lack of knowledge about the profile of these populations in the U.S. . First, as Hess et al. (2001) indicate, it is estimated that the current size of the Arab American population stands today at about 3 million (only slightly over 1 percent of the total population). Meanwhile, there are almost 7 million Muslims in this country. Thus, most Muslims in America are not Arab-Americans, as commonly so held. Further, the vast majority of Arab-Americans are not anti-America, as some would contend, but are U.S. citizens who actively contribute to our economy and society. Also, as Parrillo (2001) notes, many Arabs are members of American Christian churches, such as the Catholic church and Protestant denominations, or Arab Christian churches, like the Melkite Catholic, the Maronite, and the Eastern Orthodox church. In most cases, their families have fled their country of origin’s oppressive political and religious systems, and have embraced mainstream American values and “unalienable rights,” such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as described in the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

Our perceptions of Muslims in the United States are also commonly skewed. As Schaefer (2002) demonstrates, most Muslims in our country (42 percent) are not Arabs but rather African Americans. South Asian groups make up another 24 percent of American Muslims. Only 12 percent of our Muslim population is of Arab descent, while 22 percent are “other,” including some Caucasians, or Whites. Thus, while it is true that the Muslim population in the U.S. has greatly increased, even outnumbering that of Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans and Jews over the last two decades, it is incorrect to assume that they are mostly made up of Arabs. It is also worth mentioning that Islam itself is not a monolithic religion, and actually contains many rival sects, such as the Sunnis, Shiites and, in rarer cases, Taliban-style “fringe” groups, which espouse the most radical of fundamentalist and zealous religious views. In America, we also have the politico-religious phenomenon of the Nation of Islam, headed by the long time, notorious Minister Louis Farakhan, whose doctrine represents another variant of Islam. Sadly, his posture has too often been characterized by hate-fuelled discourse, especially against white Americans. Still, the majority of Muslims in America, as most other religious groups, seek to be able to worship in freedom and coexist peacefully with the rest of society.

Humans are naturally reactive. As social beings, we struggle to be reflective and proactive when faced with urgent and tragic situations. Sometimes, our thirst for justice also challenges our patience and goodwill toward others. The latest waves of anti-Arab/Muslim attitudes in our county thus comes as no surprise, given our shock at the heinous terrorist acts that have been committed against us, on our own soil, by a very small number of Arab and Muslim evil-doers. Yet, now, perhaps more than ever before, it is crucially important that we have accurate information at hand, as we navigate through our society’s stormy seas, especially in the area of race and ethnic relations. As we examine these issues also as Christians, we know that our greatest enemy is the devil’s deceit and its influence on our lives and (mis)perceptions of each other. Ignorance is also our foe, and leads to sorrowful acts by some, such as the targeting of innocent members of our society. In the post September 11th era, many upstanding Arab American citizens, not to mention “Arab-looking” Iranian, Indian, African, Brazilian, and other non-Arab individuals, have been victims of violent or even fatal acts because of their perpetrators’ hate-filled ignorance.

As proud citizens of this country, increasing our knowledge and improving our understanding about our multi-ethnic heritage is of utmost importance in these troubling times. The continued viability of our open society and, yes, even our American democracy, will increasingly depend on our ability to cultivate harmony in diversity. Most importantly, as Evangelical Christians, we must strive to let truth illumine all aspects of our thinking, attitudes, and actions toward those around us. As Americans are called to stand united in the struggle for justice and peace, anything short of acting proactively and in God’s truth as citizens and Christians will only contribute to the conflicts, and not to the solutions for our problems of intergroup relations.

Indeed, Muslims and Arab Americans now struggle with the results of their newly acquired visibility. Let us challenge ourselves to do all that we can to treat the problem and avert the consequences of such a grim reality, so as to make another potentially dark chapter of our American diversity history as brief as possible. Even with all its problems in this arena, America has an unprecedented track record on racial and ethnic diversity and, in most cases, harmony and cooperation between groups prevails. Let us all rejoice in this and do our part to affirm, in Christ’s truth and love, the humanity and acceptance of all groups that make up our Great Nation.

Dr. Toni Chiareli is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Union University. A native of Brazil , he became an United States citizen in 1997. His research and writing interests are in the areas of social movements, race and ethnic relations, immigration, Latin American Studies, and the integration of faith and learning in sociology. He may be contacted via e-mail at tchiarel@uu.edu.

References

Aguirre Jr., Adalberto, and Jonathan H. Turner. American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination, 3^rd ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Almaguer, Tomás. Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California. Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1994.

Farley, John E. Majority-Minority Relations, 4^th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Hess, Beth B., Elizabeth W. Markson, and Peter J. Stein. “Racial and Ethnic Minorities: An Overview;” Chapter in Rothenberg, Paula S., Ed., Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, 5^th ed., pp. 324-35. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2001.

Parrillo, Vincent N. Strangers to these Shores: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States, 6^th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2001.

Pedraza, Silvia, and Rubén G. Rumbaut. Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1996.

Schaefer, Richard T. Sociology: A Brief Introduction, 4^th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002.