No Limit

There have been many terrorist attacks on the Western world in the past decade. The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 and the bombings in the transportation system in England in 2005 are two big examples of this. On Littlegreenfootsballs.com today, there was an interesting post about how there are an increasing number of Muslim converts in the Western world and how this has become a bigger issue over the years.

The exact number is unknown, but there has been an estimate of 1500 British people having been converted to Islam and Carlile, “the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, said many of the converts had been targeted by radical Muslims while serving prison terms.” This is also becoming an increasingly bigger problem, not only in England, but also in the United States.

When the search for suspects for bombings could be narrowed to Middle-Eastern people, the job was much easier for investigators. However, now, as there have been more and more Caucasian converts to Islam, the suspects for terrorist bombings has escaped the limit of the physical standard for being a terrorist. Carlile says, “These (converts] are outside the “standard” type of profile which most police forces would have of a terrorist, which is male, young, and of Middle Eastern or Asian appearance. That is why they are so potentially dangerous.”

There are many examples of this in other countries but taking the U.S. as an example—a nation whose Declaration of Independence claims “all men are created equal” there have been times when we didn’t treat each other as equals. Thinking back to the after-effects of Pearl Harbor during WWII—one of the biggest reactions of the American people were that they were very cautious around Japanese people, even Japanese-Americans, even going to the extreme at one point and sending them off to concentration camps. I don’t blame them for their reaction. It is only natural for us to be afraid when incidents like Pearl Harbor happen. There is fear and sadness and also anger are all inevitable reactions when people encounter such terrible disasters. But it’s one thing to be afraid and wary; it’s another to take out the anger on innocent people whose only crime was to be of the same race as those who committed these terrorist acts.

There had been a similar reaction after 9/11. Middle-Eastern people or people of Middle-Eastern descent, other darker-skinned people, and people with Middle-Eastern last names, whether they were Muslim or not, were prejudiced against. According to some interviews, some Muslims “experienced emotional shunning” for a period of time after the terrorist attack. Some stayed home for a couple days after 9/11. Others had to go through extra security checks at airports.

During those times, there were certain minority groups that could be singled out and interrogated. Now, since this terrorist problem has not been contained within certain racial groups, will everyone be interrogated? Is everyone a possible suspect? White/Arab/Middle Eastern/Asian/Black/Latino/etc. all the same?

Other sources:

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/AlQaeda39s-white-army-of-terror.3667425.jp

http://community.nursingspectrum.com/MagazineArticles/article.cfm?AID=8207

http://www.alternet.org/story/12065/