It’s July, 2002.  The owner of a stationery shop in central California has advertised for a part-time manager/bookkeeper.  One afternoon an employee of the shop overhears the owner say on the phone, “I’m sorry but the position has already been filled.”  But as soon as the she hangs up the owner declares, “There’s no way that I’m going to trust a man named Hakim Al...‘something or other’ to have access to our books.”

Commentary to Arab/Muslim Vignette#1

What we are seeing here, of course, is the backlash of distrust and prejudice directed at Arab and Muslim people, post 9/11.  Presumably, because of the devastating World Trade Center attacks by a small number of Arabs and because of the known animosity of Al Qaeda toward the United States, the owner is now suspicious of all Arab people.  What part does race play in this backlash?  If the attacks had been done by a group of fanatics from Europe, for example, Spain, would we be as quick to generalize our fear to all Spaniards?  Or could we more easily separate these extremists from their fellow countrymen?  Tim Wise, Director of the newly-formed Association for White Anti-Racist Education (AWARE), points out that we are more apt to collectivize and demonize people of color than we are white people.  This means that if a single Arab or small group of Arabs does something horrendous we are more inclined to see these actions as representing their entire group than if the perpetrator were a white person.  For example, when white terrorist Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, we saw his act as a product of a sick individual who was perhaps associated with the militia movement.  It did not make us more wary of all white people.

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