Introduction
The increase of terrorist attacks and the subsequent fight against the vice in the United States has resulted to widespread discrimination against American Muslims and non-Muslims who have the physical appearance typically considered as Arabic. Muslims have suffered exclusion, abuse, and violation of their basic human rights especially after terrorist attacks carried out by individuals often perceived as ‘Muslim extremists’. This treatment is not a rational criticism of Islam as a religion, but rather a discrimination against Muslims and people who look like Muslims. This kind of discrimination, often called Islamophobia, also encompasses both religious and racial bias, particularly because the typical Muslim has been construed as a bearded and black ominous figure, a terrorist wearing a turban and practicing an archaic religion. The general perception of Muslims as terrorists causes negative evaluations about the Muslim faith in the US. Discrimination against Muslims in the US plays out at the social and institutional level. This paper links terrorism and the ‘war on terror’ to institutionalized and social violation of human rights and discrimination against Muslims in the US. The American society and both the federal and state governments have taken up the fight against terrorism, a vice that has developed to be associated with the Islam faith, consequently spurring a stream of human rights abuses against Muslims.
Terrorism and Islamophobia
The fear and hatred of Muslims in the US has grown into the mainstream culture, according to a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) (CAIR, 2016) . This fear is brought about and sustained by the continued portrayal of terrorism and acts of terrorism by the media and the majority population as predominantly and inherently ingrained in the Islam faith. The 2016 presidential campaign were particularly phenomenal and many candidates, especially from the Republican Party, sparked controversies by making negative comments about Muslims (Waldman, 2015) . Much legislation has also been made with the objective of vilification or otherwise, with a particular target on Muslims at the institutional level. Many of these legislations are passed out of fear of the Sharia law. A total of 78 bills and amendments were introduced and debated in 29 states and in the congress between 2011 and 2012 with the aim of denigrating the religious practices of the Muslims in the US (Saylor, 2014) .
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Many anti-Muslim organizations and groups have received massive grants for the spread of Islamophobia. The passing of anti-Islam legislations and the culmination of such rhetoric has played a big role in the spread and rise of attacks and violation of rights among Muslims and non-Muslims in the US. Many attacks have been carried out in mosques with the intention of intimidating Muslim worshippers (CAIR, 2016) .
The portrayal of Islam and Muslims by the media and the entertainment industry has also tremendously led to the rise of Islamophobia. Many mainstream media outlets in the US have often depicted the Muslim faith as a key contributing factor to terrorism and violence. The entertainment industry also contributes to the racialization of Muslims and Islam, thus exacerbating sentiments against Muslims and Islam. The US film industry which is influential not only within the US but also the world over depicts Arabs as oil-rich and violent religious fanatics with no regard for the rights of women and equality. These negative presentations create a public perception that it is ‘understandable’ to hate Muslims and Islam. This permissiveness unfolds through the proliferation of both racial and religious discrimination and prejudice.
The level of Islamophobia is on the rise not only in the US but in Europe as well. It is especially prevalent in sectors such as employment, politics, education, the justice system, the media, and on the internet. Islamophobia is used as apolitical tool in the US for the mobilization of voters. This means that the fear of Muslims and Islam has developed to a type of racism that is accepted and prevalent in both the margins and at the core of the American society.
The Racialization of the Muslim Faith
American Muslims are racialized although their population is heterogeneous. They are perceived as a potential threat to the security of other populations and the state. The evaluation is done through racial characteristics with a basis on the typical appearance of an Arab. This racialization is characterized by identification and labeling of an individual through racial differentiation, cultural features, or religious symbols (Samari, 2016) . Although Muslims are not a race, they are examined using a racial lens characterized by the observation of racial characteristics and physical appearance. Racialization demonizes Muslims by portraying them as overly aggressive, violent, and potential terrorists. Additionally, it presents Islam as a threatening political ideology that supports acts of terrorism and seeks to gain political and military mileage (Love, 2009)
Hate Crimes
A criminal offense which is fully or partly motivated by the perceived or real group status of a person such as religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or gender identity is referred to as a hate crime (Levin, 2016) . It is not surprising that many Americans engage in hate crimes against Muslims because they have a negative and unfavorable perception of Muslims. The Sep 11 attacks sparked religiously and racially instigated hate crimes across the US, and against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims. A report produced by CAIR in 2017 revealed that hate crimes targeting Muslims had increased dramatically in 2015 and 2016. The report findings highlight how discrimination against Muslims continues to increase Muslim-targeted violence (CAIR, 2016) .
Institutionalization of Discrimination against Muslims
Muslims in the US are victims of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of factors such as ethnicity, race, national origin, or religion by law enforcement agencies in the determination of who should be investigated or screened. This definition implies that race is not the only criterion that can be used to identify instances of racial profiling. The 2001 patriot act and its associated legislations allowed the state to categorize Muslims and Muslim-like American citizens, heightening racial profiling and giving it a legal leaning. This act caused racial segregation to spike and contributed to the differential and preferential access to resources, both at the public and the private level. It also securitized Muslims in the US in that they were now characterized as potential security threats to the country. Acts like the patriot act and similar legislations cause and reflect disparities in equality in the society between the target population and the rest of the society. Laws, practices, and customs that are systematically established and result to discrimination make the adopting institution to be discriminative, even though those implementing the practices might not have such discriminative intentions (Larsson, 2015) .
Institutionalized discrimination is distinct from attitudinal discrimination in that it is embedded in the system through policies, regulations, and practices that are to the disadvantage of a certain target group which may be racially, religiously, or ethnically different. The federal security entry and exit registration system program and the no-fly list are examples of institutionalized discrimination which targets Muslims on the basis of their origins and names rather than on their actual affiliations, intentions, or religion, for instance. Racial profiling uses a perspective that that defines the appearance of a Muslim depending on visual suggestions and physical appearance. The religious identity of Muslims is associated with their racial identity because they are often viewed as having descended from people who were not white. The institutional and social violation of human rights as perpetuated against Muslims in the US is consequently not only exclusive to Muslims, but also to non-Muslims who ‘look like’ Muslims or even have names associated with Muslims (Samari, 2016) .
Institutionalized racial profiling in the US usually targets Americans with origins in South Asia, with a presumed focus on commonalities between them and the 9/11 attackers. These commonalities may be in their race, religion, national origin, or ethnic background. The disparate handling of customers of south Asian descend or with associated looks by US airlines is a vivid manifestation of racial profiling. Such airlines adopted racial profiling policies after the 9/11 attack. These policies profile Muslim-like clients and subject them to extensive security screening with the idea that their national origin or ethnicity increased their likelihood of being terrorists
When Appearance makes one a Security Threat
A majority of Americans hold the misconception that Muslims are all Arabic and have a common physical appearance. Being a Muslim, however, does not mean that one is an Arab. A Muslim airline passenger originally from Iraq and in asylum in the US was ordered to get off a Southwest Airlines flight because he had an appearance that was said to have caused alarm in the plane. According to the airline, the passenger, Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, spoke in Arabic in the plane and caused unnecessary anxiety in the plane. The plane crew reported the matter to law enforcement agencies in a bid to prevent threats to security and asked the passenger to leave the plane. Makhzoomi had the appearance generally considered as typical of a Middle Eastern man, and had kept a beard, characteristics which are alleged to have played a major role in causing the excitement among other passengers. In this case, public communication in a Muslim-associated language and looking like a Muslim were given a correlation with being a practicing Muslim (Carrega-Woodby, 2016) . . Four men from Brooklyn were also kicked out of an American Airline flight in January 2016 because they looked too Muslim and made the captain feel uneasy (Carrega-Woodby, 2016) . The discrimination against the four men was a form of internalized racism which further aggravated the general perception that Muslims are a security threat.
Racial profiling cases like that of Makhzoomi have a common grounding which is that those who do not have the standard American look are treated like potential criminals. What happened to these men was not a mistake or a minor misunderstanding. These two cases clearly represent racial profiling at an institutionalized level where the institutions propagate and enforce subordination, dislike, and mistrust of people of color by the majority whites. The two incidents imply the general prevailing perception in the US that Muslims are potentially radicalized and pose a grave threat to public security.
Muslims and non-Muslims who have a ‘Muslim appearance’ belong to a class of a racially profiled population which is effectively criminalized by law. The profiling by airline operators is not an attack on the ideologies of the Islam religion, but on Muslims and those who look like Muslims. This is to say that the profiling is not about the religion, but rather about the color and the physical appearance associated with those who practice the religion. Under current law, it is illegal for an airline to discriminate against any of their customers on the basis of their skin color, religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, or gender. The transportation department is tasked with the prevention of any acts of discrimination. Removal of Muslim passengers and people who look like Muslims from American airlines and for seemingly arbitrary reasons is on the increase. The Department of Transport needs to take responsibility and act in an effort to prevent such instances of Islamophobia.
Conclusion
American Muslims and non-Muslims perceived by the majority as Muslims have been pushed to a class of second-rate citizens who are prone to hate crimes and have limited freedoms and rights. Overlooking the role of race in the proliferation of anti-Muslim discrimination and racism is an authorization of racial profiling and a legitimization of inequalities such as police brutality, customer profiling by airlines and in airports, discrimination in employment and housing, and denial of voting rights. The US Department of Justice and the Sikh, South Asian, and Arab communities in the United States have stepped up to protect Muslims from hate crimes and security threats that they are predisposed to because of their skin color and religion (US Department of Justice, 2011) . Organizations and human rights groups should do more in fighting discrimination against Muslims through the inclusion of effective frameworks in their efforts to educate the public and help in understanding and eliminating Islamophobia. These organizations can help Muslims in the US in securing their rights if they noted and evaluated the effects of racialization on discriminative incidents that target Muslims (Hopkins, 2004) .
The Muslim identity in the US is associated with terrorism and acts of terrorism, which include violence, brutality, war, and the disruption of peace. This association has caused societal and institutional discrimination against Muslims and those who ‘look like’ Muslims. American Muslims are as a result profiled based on their religion and race. Traditionally, Islamophobia is most likely presented in the form of religious bias and abuse. This traditional perception has evolved with the incorporation of race. Islamophobia now also spreads to non-Muslims because of prevalent stereotyping about the Muslim Identity, an idea that is in the American context filled with racial undertones.
References
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Carrega-Woodby, C. (2016, Jan 18). EXCLUSIVE: Four Brooklyn men claim they were kicked off flight for looking too Muslim in lawsuit . Retrieved Nov 15, 2018, from nydailynews.com: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/lawsuit-claims-flight-ejected-men-muslim-article-1.2499843
Hopkins, P. E. (2004). Young muslim men in Scotland: inclusions and exclusions. Children's Geographies, 2 (2).
Larsson, G. (2015). An Urgent Need to Consider How to Define Islamophobia. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 44 (1), 13-17.
Levin, B. (2016). Special Status Report- Hate Crime in the United States. San Bernadino: Center for the Study of hate and Extremism; California State University.
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Saylor, C. (2014). The U.S. Islamophobia Network: Its Funding and Impact. Islamic Studies Journal, 2 (1), 99-118.
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Waldman, P. (2015, Sep 21). Ben Carson’s anti-Muslim comments are at odds with traditional American principles . Retrieved Nov 15, 2018, from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/09/21/ben-carsons-anti-muslim-comments-are-at-odds-with-traditional-american-principles/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.68b90ca66672
