Hate Crimes and Discrimination against Arab Americans Still up from Pre-9/11 Levels
Feature Story by Karen Tanenbaum - December 16, 2008
After a post-9/11 spike, hate crimes and discrimination against Arab Americans have been steadily decreasing, but the number of violent crimes against Arab Americans remains higher than before 9/11, according to a new report by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) released on December 4.
According to the report, Arab Americans still face discrimination in the media, in schools and workplaces, at airports, and during border crossings into the United States. State and local police misconduct, such as racial profiling and unlawful detention of Arab Americans, are also detailed in the report.
At a press conference to announce the release of the report, Kareem Shora, ADC's executive director, said that in the 1990s, his organization received an average of 70-80 complaints a year about violence or discrimination against Arab Americans. Since 2002, however, the group has received around 120-130 each year.
The number of violent crimes against Arab Americans is down from the 700-plus documented by ADC in just a few weeks immediately following Sept. 11, but, Shora says, the rate remains higher than pre-Sept. 11 levels.
The report, compiled from hate crime reports received by the ADC, covers hate crimes committed from 2003 to 2007, and is the most comprehensive coverage of hate crimes and discrimination against Arab Americans to date.
However, Shora explained that the statistics may not reveal the full extent of the problem since many hate crimes go unreported. Victims of hate crimes or discrimination don't always know that their rights are being violated or they may not know where or how to report a hate crime.
According to federal law, a hate crime is defined as a criminal act that is motivated by race, color, religion, or nation origin. Hate crimes may be committed against a person, property, or society.
Pending hate crimes legislation, which many advocates are hoping will pass as early as 2009, would increase funding for local and state law enforcement officials to enable them to better identify and prosecute hate crimes. The bill would also expand protection under hate crimes laws to people with disabilities and to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
