Cultural Discrimination: In Recent Years with Muslims

Essentialist identity is a type of identity evident in some way and recognizable within society, and has collective ramifications.

One of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted identities in the United States are the religion of Islam. Since World War II, America has struggled with understanding Islam because of the relationship that exists between the Islamic world and the west. Terrorists and repressive states have helped to paint Islam as a religion of hate and war. However, it was not until September 11th, 2001 that these deep-ceded feelings really start to boil over. Americans took their "hatred" they had for the terrorists and transformed it onto all Muslims.

The history of the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values and principles. Whether they were religious values or legal codes for many Americans, Islam and being Muslim represent the opposite of these values. By declaring someone as opposing your values it is easier to paint Islam and Muslims in a bad light. It is this uneducated view that leads many to identify Islam and Muslims as a jihadist religion with terrorist worshipers.

Much like discrimination the Japanese faced after Pearl Harbor, Muslims or people of Arab descent and those who look "Muslim" have faced discrimination following September 11th. This anti-Muslim feeling following September 11th has been caused by Americans knowing little of Islam and thus misidentifying and misinterpreting the religion of Islam and those practicing it. This lack of knowledge has resulted in not only Muslims but also Indians, Sikhs and non-Muslim Arabs facing death threats, discrimination, racial profiling and harassment.

Last year, days after a terrorist attack in India killed 207 people, a women name Motaz Elshafi a software engineer for Cisco Systems in North Carolina opened an internal work email that began with, "Dear Terrorist." The email went on to say that those kinds of attacks would not intimidate people but only strengthen their resolve (Elias 2006).