Coast to coast, human solidarity answers wave of
xenophobia
By Greg Butterfield
After Sept. 11, a wave of racist terror swept across the
United States. It targeted Muslims and Arab Americans, other
people perceived as "looking Middle Eastern," and people of
color in general.
Hundreds of violent incidents and threats have been
reported.
On a single day-Sept. 15-three immigrants living in the
western United States were killed in separate incidents.
Much of the violence has gone unreported by the corporate
media or been concealed amid the glorification of flag-waving
chauvinism since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
Officially, President George W. Bush and Attorney General
John Ashcroft condemned the attacks on Arabs and Muslims. But
their actions tell a different story.
These are not merely random, lamentable acts by "outraged"
individuals. The lynchings take place in the context of
government/media racist profiling of all Arabs and Muslims as
potential "suspects" in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Bush administration's frenzied push toward a new war of
aggression in the Middle East, with the near-unanimous consent
of congressional Democrats, sent a signal to racist forces that
it was open season on immigrants and people of color.
Attempting to further ratchet up this divide-and-conquer
atmosphere, the far-right Christian fundamentalists Rev. Jerry
Falwell and broadcaster Pat Robertson went on national
television to blame lesbians and gays, feminists, abortion
doctors, and supporters of church-state separation for the
World Trade Center disaster.
"A pattern of collective blame and scapegoating against Arab
Americans and Muslims seems to be emerging even before the
culpability of a single individual has been established," said
Ziad Asali, president of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, in a Sept. 12 statement.
Sikhs targeted
One of those slain was Balbir Singh Sodhi, a native of
Punjab, India. Sodhi practiced the Sikh religion and wore a
traditional turban and beard.
He had lived and worked in the United States for 10 years.
Sodhi managed a gas station in Mesa, Ariz., where he was shot
and killed.
Sodhi's killer, Frank Roque, later shot at a Lebanese worker
at another gas station, then fired into the home of an Afghani
American family. When he was arrested, Roque shouted, "I stand
for America all the way." (New York Times, Sept. 17)
Sikhs, who are not Muslims and do not come from the Middle
East, report being targets of abuse in many areas because of
their appearance.
Another lynching victim, Waqar Hassan, was a gas station
manager and an immigrant from Pakistan who lived in a Dallas
suburb. The third victim, Adelal Karas, was an Egyptian
Christian living in San Gabriel, Calif.
Mosques and Islamic centers have been firebombed in Chicago,
Seattle, Cleveland, Denton, Texas, Smithtown, N.Y., and many
other cities. The firebombing of a Brooklyn, N.Y., mosque was
narrowly averted when the bomber got scared and fled.
Schools in one Louisiana parish were closed after Muslim
children were threatened. Many Muslim women won't leave their
homes, fearing their veils will make them targets.
On Aug. 12 and 13 in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Ill.,
racist mobs carrying U.S. and Confederate flags tried to march
on a mosque. In another Chicago suburb, Palos Heights, a
Moroccan gas attendant was attacked by a machete-wielding
goon.
"I am afraid for my kids," said Taiseer Jadallah, a
Palestinian living in St. Petersburg, Fla., after a death
threat was taped to his truck's windshield.
A prisoner at FCC Coleman Low, a facility in Coleman, Fla.,
reported that Middle Eastern inmates "are being rounded up and
put in solitary confinement, where they are being punished like
offenders and then being mentally tortured by guards that have
advised them that in a state of war they will be the first to
be exterminated by gas."
By Sept. 15, some 210 incidents of violence or threats of
violence had been reported, according to the Council of
American-Islamic Relations.
Legal and extralegal threats
In some areas the scapegoating of Middle Eastern peoples has
spilled over into a general racist assault on all people of
color.
In Flint, Mich., a Latina student was subjected to slurs and
threats at her mostly white high school. "Kids taunted her,
saying, 'Go back where you came from,'" the girl's mother told
the Flint Journal. "She said, 'I'm American born.' They said it
doesn't matter-you're not white."
Legal and extralegal threats have created difficult
conditions for progressive movements, especially those led by
people of color. Al Awda, the Palestinian Right of Return
Coalition, has refocused a planned Sept. 23 march in New York,
in solidarity with Arab and Muslim people.
In Philadelphia, a Sept. 15 demonstration for political
prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was postponed. "There are serious
questions about the security situation here," explained the
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
in a Sept. 14 statement. The group told of two local activists
being harassed by federal "anti-terrorist" agents the day
before.
"To add to this," the statement continued, "there have been
numerous attacks on both Arab and Muslim people and their
businesses in the city. One woman was attacked by a group of
men, and when she tried to report it [to the police] she was
told it did not happen."
Attacks have also been reported in Canada, Britain and other
imperialist countries. In Brisbane, Australia, a school bus
carrying Muslim children was stoned.
Falwell blames gays, women
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, fundamentalist Christians
and Republican politicians, tried to heap fuel on the fire
Sept. 14.
On Robertson's "700 Club" television show-broadcast
nationally on the Fox Family Channel-Falwell said the World
Trade Center/Pentagon attacks took place because "God will not
be mocked."
Falwell continued: "I really believe the pagans, and the
abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians
who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle,
the ACLU, People for the American Way-all of them who have
tried to secularize America-I point the finger in their face
and say, you helped this happen."
Robertson agreed.
"The words of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson yesterday were
stunning," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the
Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian/gay/ bi/trans civil-rights
organization. "They are beyond contempt. They are irresponsible
at best, and a deliberate attempt to manipulate the nation's
anger at worst."
Birch continued, "The words of these men are similar to the
acts of equally contemptible retribution that are being waged
against people of Middle Eastern origin or appearance in some
areas of our country."
'Show true meaning of solidarity'
Many progressive, anti-racist and anti-war individuals and
organizations have responded to the attacks under these
difficult circumstances. These largely spontaneous efforts of
people all over the country to show solidarity with those under
attack and to reject a militarist reaction by the government
are heartening, and will become a potent force as their
activities become more coordinated and organized.
In New York on Sept. 14, while Bush was leading a pro-war
rally in lower Manhattan, thousands gathered at Union Square
Park for an alternative vigil. The theme was: "Mourn the
victims. Stand for peace."
Many held signs reading: "Islam is not the enemy. War is not
the answer."
The park has continued to be a gathering place for
multinational crowds almost every evening.
In Columbus, Ohio, a "No to War, Yes to Peace" coalition was
formed after a large number of people, many African American,
went to the City Council and asked it to condemn ethnic and
religious scapegoating, defend civil rights and liberties, and
say no to war.
On campuses across the country, students began to mobilize
immediately. Groups have held rallies, vigils and joined
defense of threatened mosques.
September 20 has been set as a National Student Day of
Action Against Scapegoating Arab Americans and to Stop the
War.
Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labor Congress,
urged the union federation's 2.5 million members "to make it a
personal responsibility to protect and promote the respect,
safety and well-being of our Muslim or Arab sisters and
brothers. This is the time for us all to show the true meaning
of solidarity," he said.
A group of members of the Auto Workers union addressed a
letter "to our Arab American co-workers at the Ford Rouge and
other plants" in the Detroit area. It read in part: "There are
reports from around the U.S. about serious problems experienced
by Arab Americans and Muslims and their institutions. ... As
activists in Local 600, we want to be informed about problems
experienced by UAW members who are, or who are perceived to be,
Arab Americans or Muslims. We want to help provide support for
people affected by problems like these."
The authors of the letter are drafting a resolution they
hope will be endorsed by the local.
The International Action Center announced it was changing
its Sept. 29 "Surround the White House" demonstration to focus
on building opposition to the war drive and the racist attacks
on Arab and Muslim peoples. Actions are also planned that day
in San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more information, see
related articles in this issue or visit www.iacenter.org.
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