Modern Racism
in the
United States

Pioneer Pacific College
Springfield, OR
Sociology 110
Instructor: Gary Wood

By:
Jessica Stallings

Table of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… 3

Defining “Modern Racism”………………………………………………………………. 4

Racism in the Wake of 9/11………………………………………………………………. 6

President Barack Obama………………………………………………………………….. 9

Racial Tensions on Cinco de Mayo……………………………………………………... 11

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….. 14

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………... 15

Abstract

After a review of the works cited in this research paper, I will discuss the impact of racism in the United States following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. It is reasonable to believe that the attacks added fire to the racist streak that has plagued the United States for generations.

Racism topics in this paper include only events between September 2001 and the present day. It will span from the treatment of peoples of Middle Eastern descent in the wake of the terrorist attacks, to present day racial tensions between whites and Hispanics.

In modern times, the words “racist” and “racism” are used loosely. Often times, there really is no attack on a person or group’s race at all.

I will briefly touch upon racial tensions surrounding the candidacy and election of Barack Obama. I will also discuss recent clashes that were perhaps worsened by a state’s recent passing of a controversial immigration bill.

Defining “Modern Racism”

“America remains a land where progress can be measured in the amazing achievements of Oprah and Obama. And a place where examples of intolerance can be found on any given day.” (Ragland, 2008)

Racism has been prevalent throughout history, beginning in Biblical times. The Bible states that “you shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21) Yet, followers of Christianity are the biggest offenders of all—from the generations-old persecution of the Jews, to the Crusades in the Middle East. Those who claim to be of the Christian faith are white supremacists in the form of Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, or just blatantly racist hypocrites.

The world—and the United States, in particular—is in a very racially charged era. In fact, the term “racism” has been diluted to the point where not only is one who is prejudiced against their black neighbor a racist, but one who is prejudiced against their child’s Buddhist teacher is also labeled as a racist, even if that teacher is white. Modern racism is discrimination and prejudice against not only skin color and ethnicity, it now entails religious preferences.

“In modern America, racism means anything you want it to mean. That means that if your advocacy group says something is racism, then it’s racism. Even if it has nothing to do with race…

So why don’t the accusers use the right term?

…You get a lot more traction calling someone a racist than you do accusing him of being a religious bigot, a xenophobe, or almost anything else.” (Hustemyre, 2009)

A group of psychology students in 2000 defined modern racism as being “evolved from an aggressive prejudicial behavior to a more subtle prejudicial behavior. This type of subtle prejudicial behavior has advanced to a degree that is much more difficult to see, yet is regarded as more severe.” (Dickirson, Schmit, Richardson, & Serrott-Franz, 2000)

Racism in the Wake of 9/11

On September 11, 2001, nineteen Muslim terrorists hijacked and crashed four airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania. Later, Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed approximately 3,000 people, and rattled the nation.

Governments around the world enforced stricter airport security, while at the same time rounding up anyone believed to have ties with terrorist networks. The large majority of those arrested were Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent.

The world powers weren’t the only ones showing some form of discrimination in the wake of the attacks. Private citizens were lashing out at anyone of color—Muslims, Arabs, Indians, and even Latinos, to name a few—were bearing the brunt of a scared population.

One journalist noted white women being searched because their names were on a “random” search list—they had Arab last names, but when the security personnel saw that the women were white, they were notably embarrassed at their “blunder”. He also witnessed a group of Hispanics being pulled out of line and searched because they had the same skin color as most Arabs. (Wise, 2001)

For the fifth anniversary of the attacks, MSNBC asked readers about their post-9/11 lives. The stories of three women were printed: a woman of East Indian descent, a woman who had children calling her and her Sikh husband “Osama bin Laden”, and a white merchant whose business took a hit for the Middle Eastern items she sold. (Herd, Singh, & Burns, 2006)

After the attacks, an American student—who also happened to be a Sikh—decided to study the impact of post-9/11 hate crimes. She applied for and received a grant from Stanford University (where she was a student of International Relations and Religious Studies) to travel and document a changed America.

“Beginning in September 2001, we embarked on a four-month trek into the heart of America, up and down the Californian coast, through the Arizona desert, to the mass grave that replaces the World Trade Center, and finally traveled half way around the world to a small village in Punjab, India. We interviewed Sikh, Muslim, Arab, Afghan, and South Asian Americans about their encounters with fear, suspicion, and hate. We spent the most time with Sikh Americans, a religious community originally from Punjab. Most people may not know that nearly all people with turbans in the United States are Sikh men (and sometimes women) who do not cut their hair in order to observe an article of Sikh faith. Given their resemblance to Osama bin Laden, many Sikh Americans faced particularly heavy violence in the first weeks of the backlash.” (Kaur, 2002)

Valarie Kaur went on to describe how she met with the family of a man murdered just days after the attacks, and how the children in the family spoke of still being afraid, begging their father not to wear his turban for fear that he’ll end up dead, too. She also recalled weeping with the man’s widow in Punjab. This man in Arizona was murdered simply because he was wearing a turban—the fact that he was an honest, hard-working American citizen meant nothing to the man who gunned him down. The man was wearing a turban like bin Laden, and was therefore a threat to his killer.

Many have likened the reaction to Muslims and Arabs to the country’s treatment of the Japanese after the Japanese Imperial Navy bombed the United States Navy’s base in Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i, in 1941, killing thousands, and temporarily crippling the U.S. Pacific fleet. Americans immediately started to retaliate against their Japanese-American neighbors. Shortly after, the U.S. government ordered the roundup of the Japanese in the country to internment camps around the U.S. This was for their safety, as well as preventing any espionage.

Journalist Michael Manekin interviewed Imam Tahir Anwar, the director of religious services of a Northern California Islamic center, about the similarities between the post-event racism of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the attacks on 9/11.

“’You would imagine that we would learn after Pearl Harbor, but we just haven’t learned the most important lesson: Don’t judge people based on the color of their skin or what they look like,’ said Anwar.

While Anwar pointed out that Japanese Americans suffered far worse after the bombing of Pearl Harbor than Muslim Americans after 9/11, he added that ‘Muslims do feel like they’re living in a camp.’” (Manekin, 2006)

President Barack Obama

The United States had a huge and significant historical event in 2008—for the first time in its history, a non-white man was elected President. Not only a non-white man, but an African-American man.

With the candidacy of Barack Obama came waves of racist remarks and threats. The FBI and Secret Service were on their toes, always investigating threats of violence against then-Senator Obama (D-IL).

One blogger noted comments on blogs and forum threads directed towards Obama leaned toward the days of the Klan:

“The KKK or someone WILL assassinate Obama! If we get a NIGGER President all you NIGGER’s [sic] will think you’ve won and that the WHITE people will have to bow to you[.] FUCK THAT.”

“I’m hoping someone will do his public duty of putting a bullet through Obama’s head.”

“LOOK OUT NIGGER. THE KLAN IS GETTING BIGGER!!!!!!”

“The deep south is making plans.” (Potok, 2008)

Another blogger noted similar comments:

“The Negros are coming!!! The Negros are coming!!!”

“you know this president we have is following a great man in his time. but at the end he got shot.lol”

“Obama is our first Moor president – half-Arab and half-black. Or should I say half-camel and half-ape.”

“What is the difference between Obama and dog S H I T? Nothing. They smell the same.” (J.D., 2009)

These comments are protected by our First Amendment rights, yet they also show that much of the country is still stuck in the mindset that blacks are inferior. The question some would ask is, why do so many people of color wish to live here, even when so many people outwardly hate our nation’s leader, a man of color?

Racial Tensions on Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo (May 5) is the celebration of Mexico’s unlikely victory over the French in Pueblo, Mexico, in 1862. Though not widely celebrated in Mexico (outside of Pueblo), it is celebrated in the United States. Many—including Hispanics—mistakenly celebrate it as Mexico’s independence day.

Cinco de Mayo 2010 would be different. With the passage of a hotly controversial immigration bill in the state of Arizona in April, tensions were high, and it spilled into our schools.

High school sophomore Nick Morris attends Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas. On May 5, he saw a Mexican flag hung off of a landing in a hallway in his school. He took it upon himself to remove the flag, and when he was unable to locate the flag’s owner, he threw it away. He was given a three day suspension, and ordered to pay for the flag. On top of that, he is also now labeled as a racist by many of the other students.

Morris and his mother took to the airwaves to protest, and spoke on the subject on a Houston radio show.

“’Cinco De Mayo is a great holiday,’ Morris told the radio host. ‘I have no problem with red white and green everywhere; it's student speech, it's what America basically is. I said, “The only problem I did have is when you fly the flag of a neighboring country in a public school.”’

But while Morris has also clarified the flag was merely hung in a hallway and not on a pole or over the American flag, he does contend the Mexican flag was displayed disrespectfully, since it was posted higher than the Stars and Stripes.

‘I told them it was higher than the American flag. I said there is one American flag in this building; it's lower than the Mexican flag,’ Morris said in his radio interview. ‘I took a tape measure and measured; that flag was 4 feet higher than [both] the American and Texas flag.’" (Zahn, 2010)

On that same day, five students were sent home in Morgan Hill, California, after being warned by school administrators that the clothing they wore bearing the American flag was “incendiary”, and would cause problems with the Hispanic students—who were waving Mexican flags and colors. They could either turn their shirts inside out, or go home, but would be suspended if they attended their classes with the clothing on. The boys were taken home by their parents.

The factors that have played out the most were: 1) the school administrator who initially approached the boys was Hispanic; 2) the administrators were trying to prevent racism, but by insinuating that the Hispanic students would get violent, were being subtly racist themselves; 3) the Hispanic students got to wear their colors (though eventually, school officials began confiscating Mexican flags); and more importantly, 4) statements and comments:

"’I think they should apologize 'cause it is a Mexican heritage day,’ Live Oak High student Annicia Nunez said. ‘We don't deserve to be disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on the Fourth of July.’"

“I am so sick and tired of liberals, especially those running some of the school systems. To them, everything is relative, including morality. Hey left-wing apologists: This is America. Love it or leave it, you scumbag pansies.”

“Apologize? Had Mexico been worth celebrating, you'd still be there. These kids need to sude the hell out of the school for infringing on their rights. Cinco de Mayo is not a celebration of Mexican-Americans. It's a celebration of Mexicans. I hope these clowns figure out which of the two they are before the country opts to go Sheriff Joe on them.”

“Shame, shame, shame. How dare this happen in America? Anyone who condoned this action or approved the concept should be fired immediately. These students did nothing wrong, and to single them out in their country while service members are engaged in a two-front war is, frankly, un-American, unpatriotic and stupid.”

“Annicia, you and all the other America haters at your school, please leave my country. I don't even care if you are a U.S. citizen. You don't even know what this country is all about.”

“As a veteran, I was prepared to give my life for my country and the flag because these colors never run. This is America. They need to sue that school system into the stone age.” (Schilling, 2010)

Conclusion

Clearly, terrorism, immigration, and good old white supremacy still reign supreme in the U.S. Unfortunately, those of color take every opportunity to cry “racism”.

We are obviously in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” place.

Immigration reform? We’re racist against the Mexicans that do the jobs we won’t do, yet economists have shown that they drive down the wages of the lower working class.

Prevent terrorist attacks? We’re racist against Middle Easterners, and even Muslims—though Islam is a religion, not a race.

Elect a black President? It’s almost as if the Jim Crow laws were still around.

Just how do we address modern racism? Even President Obama tries to avoid the subject. Racism is as taboo as having a sexual relationship with your sister. Yet it is a real problem—one we refuse to seriously address.

Bibliography

Dickirson, A., Schmit, J., Richardson, A., & Serrott-Franz, A. (2000). Modern Racism. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from Discrimination in the Workplace: http://www.units.muohio.edu/psybersite/workplace/modernweb.shtml

Exodus. In The Holy Bible (p. 22:21).

Herd, S., Singh, M. Z., & Burns, R. (2006). Scorched by post-9/11 racism. Retrieved June 24, 2010, from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14587965/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Hustemyre, C. (2009, April 5). Modern American 'Racism'. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from American Thinker: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/modern_american_racism.html

J.D. (2009, January 19). Racism on the rise as Obama nears presidency. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from The Modern Left: http://www.themodernleft.com/2009/01/racism-on-rise-as-obama-nears.html

Kaur, V. (2002, October). Turbans and Terror: Racism After September 11. Retrieved June 24, 2010, from Sikh Spectrum: http://www.sikhspectrum.com/102002/valerieb.htm

Manekin, M. (2006, December 8). Japanese, Muslims recall racism. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from Imam Tahir Anwar: http://www.imamtahir.com/content/Articles/insidebayarea_japanese_muslims.pdf

Potok, M. (2008, February 20). Racist Attacks on Obama Growing More Heated. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2008/02/20/racist-attacks-on-obama-growing-more-heated/

Ragland, J. (2008, January 18). Modern racism has changed, but it's still there. The Dallas Morning News .

Schilling, C. (2010, May 6). Principal bans U.S. flag T-shirts on Mexican holiday. Retrieved June 17, 2010, from WorldNetDaily: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=150453

Wise, T. (2001, December 11). Rationalizing Racism: Panic and Profiling After 9/11. Retrieved June 24, 2010, from AlterNet: http://www.alternet.org/12065

Zahn, D. (2010, May 8). Flag wars! Teen gets 3-day Cinco de Mayo suspension. Retrieved June 17, 2010, from WorldNetDaily: http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=151053

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