Rebecca Dallas
Captive Nation

America is a prison. Held within this prison are the past and present captives of racism that have been serving out their sentence in the “land of the free” for centuries. The crimes of racism in this country can be traced back to 1492, when genocide was first enacted upon the native tribes who were America’s original caretakers. America’s shameful history of racism has impacted all of humankind including everything from murder and slavery to segregation and propaganda. Currently the Arab-American/ Islamic populations have received disturbing amounts of hate-filled attention from the media and mainstream population, due to current political conflicts between the U.S. and the Middle East.

While the current prejudice has been rising to a peak since the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, it is by no means a new condition in the lives of people of Middle Eastern descent, residing in America. There is also a unique and striking comparison that can be made in a historical context. During WWII Japanese Americans were made captives of racism and forced into government internment camps. This is very similar to the kind of psychosocial captivity that Arab American citizens are currently facing.

When I say “racist captivity” I am speaking of every way in which people are kept from experiencing the inalienable rights and freedoms that were laid out in the Constitution over 200 years ago. This captivity enslaves people in numerous ways subtle and psychological to blatant and violent.

In Elizabeth Boosahda’s 2003 book, Arab-American faces and Voices, the first half and last chapter of the book highlight the fact that since first emigrating to America in the 1880’s in search of a better life, Arab-Americans have been victimized by bigotry. In spite of the discrimination Arab- Americans have faced, they have provided a great many economic and cultural contributions to society. But the atmosphere in the U.S. post 9/11 has brought a new wave of hate to the forefront.

Enemy, evil-doer, terrorist, filthy animal, fanatic, coward, cave-dweller, and sand-n***er are all examples of hate speech that the Islamic/Arab-American community come in contact with on a regular basis in today’s society. Japanese-Americans were accustomed to similar slander during WWII, especially with the phrase “filthy animal”. Media and government propaganda are by far two of the most effective mediums for trying to make the opposition be seen as something less than human. This gives life to the idea that their life is less valuable than our own. While the repetition of the media is powerful, other influential forces lie in the community of prominent people.

During WWII Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as beloved children’s author and illustrator, Dr. Seuss, created many propaganda cartoons filled with racist slander against Japanese people. In David Minear’s 1999 book, “Dr. Seuss Goes to War” the collection of cartoons are portrayed and analyzed. On pages 143 and 145, Japanese people are depicted as both monkeys and alley cats. On page 119 Minear writes, “Seuss draws the Japanese with a piggish nose, coke-bottle glasses, slanted eyes, lips parted in smile, and a brush moustache.”

Currently many inflammatory anti-Islamic/political cartoons are published in the U.S. Political writer Daniel Kurtzman has a website called, politicalhumor.about.com, which contains many cartoons of that very nature. One cartoon depicts Osama Bin Laden on the cover of a book entitled Jihad for Dummies. At the top of the cover it states, “ The author of Islamic and Impotent brings you…” If you scroll down the cover you will see a statement that implies that Bin Laden is a pederast as well as a mass murderer. Another cartoon from the same web site is entitled “ The Afghan Spice Girls”, which portrays five women dressed in black robes with cloth covering their faces. The captions beneath each woman say: Veiled Spice, Hidden Spice, Masked Spice, Covered Spice, and Obscured Spice.

At present, along with political cartoons, politicians, religious leaders, even musicians, freely make racist statements. In Hussein Ibish’s 2002 Report on Hate Crimes & Discrimination over twenty examples are cited on pages 128-130 including:

“ Islam is a religion in which God requires you
to send your son to die for him. Christianity is
a faith in which God sends his son to die for you.”
-Attorney General John Ashcroft

and

“ I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I’ve read
enough of the history of his life written by both
Muslims and non-Muslims, that he was a violent
man, a man of war.”- Rev. Jerry Falwell

After September 11th country music performer Charlie Daniels released a song entitled,

“ It ain’t no rag, it’s a flag, and you don’t wear it on your head”; which contained the
following lyrics:
“ This ain’t no rag/ It’s the flag/ And we don’t wear it on our heads/
It’s a symbol of the land where the good guys live/ Are you listening
to what I said/ You’re a coward and a fool/ And you broke all the rules/
And you wounded our American pride/ now we’re coming with a gun/
And you know you’re going to run/ but you can’t find no place to hide…
Our people stand proud/ The American crowd is faithful and loyal and tough/
We’re as good as the best and better than the rest. You’re going to find out
soon enough…”

Ibish states on page 91, “ Federal law prohibits employment discrimination, codified in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee or one seeking employment on the basis of eight categories: race, religion, color, age, sex, disability, national origin, or citizenship status.” Yet the law seems to elude some American employers. Ibish reports over 90 cases of employment discrimination due to the September 11th backlash.

Two incidents included occurred in the Bay Area of California: “ A Muslim woman working in the South Bay area said that she received a death threat from a co-worker. Her supervisors treated it as a joke, but ultimately she left the job because she didn’t feel safe there any longer.” The next one occurred in San Francisco. “ A man from Iraq, who is a U.S. citizen said he was fired from his job and was specifically told it was because he was Middle Eastern.”

Japanese Americans had the opposite experience in the internment camps as they were forced to work rather than deprived of work. The Marriott Library at the University of Utah has a website ( www.lib.utah.edu) which contains photographs of the labor camps in Tule, California and Topaz, Utah. The one in Tule was famous for workers’ strikes due to horrible conditions in the camps. Monica Sone recalls her experience working at the camp in Puyallup, Washington in the 1953 book, Nisei Daughter, “ My day was filled, hurrying to Area D for work, hurrying back to area A for lunch, then back to D for work again, and finally back to A for the night.”
Racial profiling is a plague infecting the heart of America. It encompasses people of numerous races and is becoming the rule rather than exception. Profiling is the act of singling someone out based on their specific race. This act in itself sets a canvas for heinous crimes to be carried out, both legal and illegal. These profiling perpetrators inhabit our government, our media, our airports, our police force, our education system, and even our own back yards.

Justification was given for the blatant profiling and relocation of Japanese American citizens over 50 years ago in bizarre ways. In Stacy Kowtko’s 2000 historigraphical analysis, Issei, Nisei, and Our Say, the author states on page 25, “ Government administration proposed ‘protective custody’ as a major argument for relocation, yet the rebuttal to this idea counters with examples like the fact that between Pearl Harbor and the order for evacuation, less than ten documented cases of violence against any Japanese in the Pacific Coast area appeared in the two major newspapers in California.” Kowtko asserts, based on readings of racist publications of the time that, “Through fault of their ancestry, Japanese Americans were not to be trusted.” (p.20) After the attack on Pearl Harbor Japanese Americans were viewed as traitors, this being the true reason for the internment.
The Arab American/ Islamic community of today has never been forced into concentration camps, but they suffer at the hands of abhorrent profiling every day without any kind of lasting protection. Part of the problem is the fact that the some of the so-called protectors are actually the perpetrators. Much guilt again lies in the hands of the American government.

The ACLU website( www.aclu.org ) provides a brief explanation of Patriot Act II which was instilled 45 days after 9/11: “ Patriot Act II gives the FBI power over medical, student, and library records. It also inhibits various other freedoms of citizens.” This action put into effect is further proof of how the words citizen and captive are becoming interchangeable in the United States of America.

The media, under the protection of the second amendment is arguably the worst racial profiler in existence. The inhumanity committed within this powerful medium perpetuates a breeding ground for both psychological and violent forms of racism.
Author and professor Evelyn Shakir provides numerous interviews with Arab American women in her 1997 book, Bint Arab. A thought-provoking interview with an Iraqi woman named Hind Rassam Cullhane is cited on page 175 where she states:
“ I’m thinking that my whole life in the United Sates has been punctuated by nothing but misery and bad news of the Middle East, news of wars,conflicts, killings. If it’s not Iraq, it’s Lebanon; if it’s not Lebanon it’s Egypt. And after the wars, the prejudice against us because we are Arabs and the whole media portrayal of ‘ these terrorists.’ During the Arab Israeli wars in the 1970’s, my sons were beaten up in grade school and in high school because they were half Arab. My son says, ‘Sometimes I don’t want to say I’m an Arab.’ I feel badly for children that they have to hide their identity. I’m a psychologist, and I think that the hostility here (against Arabs) has led to depression; I think it has led to a shaky identity. People have not even done studies on what it has done to our identity as an ethnic group.”

Again in the 2002 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination a quote is cited published by the National Review Online, journalist Ann Coulter made a hostile statement in print, 9/13/01: “ We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.” This is only one of many inflammatory comments made by Coulter.

Japanese Americans during WWII were forced to travel in order to relocate to their designated internment camps. Arab American citizens of this time are kept from traveling freely due to the institutionalized epidemic of profiling in airports. Hussein Ibish states on page 23 in the 1998 –2002 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination, “ Institutionalized discrimination includes racial or ethnic bias which occurs within a specific system, procedure, or organization.” And also, “ Profiling is a system that compares an individual with an officially compiled abstract of characteristics thought typical of someone who might be a threat to airline security.” Many incidences were occurring long before September 11th. Ibish lists twenty reported cases through 1998-2000.

One incident on page 26 goes as follows, “ In July 1999 at the Chicago Midway Airport in Illinois an Arab American man traveling on business had answered all the routine questions at the ticket counter. When the ticket agent placed a tag on his bag, she claimed she smelled something unusual. The traveler then took his bag off the counter to inspect it. A curious bystander asked what was going on and if there was a bomb. The ticket agent then claimed that she heard the traveler say that he had a bomb in his bag. The police then came and asked him several questions relating to his name and address. They did not ask him to relate his version of the facts. He was arrested and the charges against him remained even after nothing was found in his bag and it was discovered that the smell of something burning originated from a trash can that was on fire outside the terminal.”

Post September 11th excuses for airline profiling became pettier. The 2002 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination cites an incident on page 25, “ On November 5, 2001 in the Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts an Arab American passenger scheduled to fly from Boston to Los Angeles International Airport was singled out during the boarding process and forbidden by an AA manager to enter the aircraft. The manager explained to him, ‘One of the passengers is not comfortable flying with you.’”

The average citizen might turn to the police for protection and assurances of safety at the hands of racial profiling; but these days some police officers are the perpetrators of unethical misconduct against Arab Americans, fortunately this is the exception rather than the rule. However, in the same report on discrimination cited above Ibish references such an incident. “ On October 4, 2001 an Arab American motorist was pulled over by a police car following an illegal U-turn. The sergeant approached the car holding his gun. He ordered the motorist out, threatened him and called him a ‘ Bin Laden supporter,’ before searching his car.”

In Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project : A Teacher’s Resource Guide, former internee Mutsu Homma describes a very similar incident of hateful harassment by a guard, “ In camp guarded by very young soldiers, one time a soldier stopped me and said, ‘ Hey you.’ ‘You want to talk to me?’ He said ‘Yeah, Are you a human being?’ I said, ‘ Yeah, don’t you think so?’ ‘ Yeah you look like a human being, but when I came from South Carolina, they said that Jap is not a human being. They are like a gorilla so if you want to, kill them. That’s what I learned.’”

The Anti American Discrimination Committee is very concerned with the growing number of incidences of educational discrimination and its psychological effects on children. Ibish Hussein writes on page 39 in the 1998- 2000 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination, “ When discrimination manifests in schools, it clearly has a damaging effect on Arab American students. ADC hears reports of children who want to hide their Arab identity…A hostile educational environment can create a sense of shame about their national origins. Other children may tease Arab Americans associating them with terrorism and incidents of political violence.” The ADC did a case study in Detroit Michigan, which turned out to be a breeding ground for many incidences of educational discrimination. On page 42 Ibish reports, “ In November of 1998 an Arab American student was expelled after he was allegedly hit and beaten by two of his teachers. A law suit against the school was filed.” Ibish also reports an incident on page 47 in Maryland; “ A parent complained that kindergarten students had a number of lessons on Hanukkah but none on Ramadan. The teacher responded to her with the comment, ‘ What is Ramadan? It’s not an American religion. We’re doing local religions.’”

A historical comparison can be made while reading Renee Tawa’s 1997 article in The LA Times, Childhood Lost: The Orphans of Manzanar. A former orphan of the Japanese internment camps, Sakamoto, recalls her feelings of dealing with racial slurs in her junior high school after the war was over, “ I wished I were never Japanese.”

As a person living in the United States I am able to say whatever I want, because my right to free speech is protected under the Constitution. Unfortunately that means that I also have to hear many things that I find offensive and slanderous. I had a neighbor in my own home a few months ago, who will remain unnamed, make an incredibly ignorant and nauseating remark about the current war in Iraq. She said, “ We should just go over there and nuke them all.” This is a person I thought was decent for the most part, but it turned out that she was a bigot. That is one of the scariest devices of racism, you can never be sure of people’s ethics. This free vocalization of bigotry by everyday people contributes to the growing number of hate crimes occurring in America.

I recently spoke to Tina Webb, a taxi driver in Seattle, who told me that many of her friends and co-workers had been assaulted and deported due to post September 11th backlash. Tina was on the news recently because one of her co-workers, Hassam Farah, from Somalia was murdered. “ He was shot in the back of the head five times.” Webb stated. “ The police believe that it was not a racially motivated crime, but due to a robbery.” However, this crime and the other many assaults on cab drivers in the Seattle community, due to racial profiling, have led cab drivers to demand safety measures be implemented within their vehicles. Tina said that cab drivers want video cameras and bulletproof glass installed inside their vehicles, so they are less afraid of being attacked while on the job.

Hussein Ibish refers to a confirmed hate crime murder on page 69 in The Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination against Arab Americans: September 11, 2001 to October 11,2002. “ On September 15, 2001 in Mesa, Arizona a 49 year old Indian Sikh, Balbir Sigh Sodhi, was shot while planting flowers outside his Chevron station. His murderer, 42 year old Frank Roque, had spent the day drinking and raving about how he wanted to kill the “ rag heads” responsible for the terrorist attacks four days earlier. After being kicked out of a bar, Roque went on a shooting rampage. He first shot and killed Sodhi, and afterwards fired on the home of an Afghan family. He then shot several times at a Lebanese American clerk who escaped injury. During his arrest he yelled, “ I am a patriot!” and “ I stand for America all the way!” The Department of Justice investigated the slaying as a hate crime murder.”
The forcible imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII was in itself a hate crime based on ancestry. In Nisei Daughter, Monica Sone describes her first moments at Camp Harmony in Puyallup, Washington. “ I remembered the wire fence encircling us, and a knot of anger tightened in my breast. What was I doing behind a fence like a criminal? If there were accusations to be made, why hadn’t I been given a fair trial? Maybe I wasn’t considered an American anymore. My citizenship wasn’t real after all. Then what was I?”

Japanese Americans were exiled to camps within America, but Arab Americans are currently being deported at astonishing rates back to their own countries. On page 33 in Singh’s Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination, it states, “The Department of Justice has admitted to holding over 600 secret detainee hearings since 9/11. In one instance, the government chartered a plane and performed a mass deportation of 132 men to Pakistan.”

Millions of people in this country are the victims of racism. Ironically, these victims are held captive by prisoners of ignorance. These prisoners of ignorance are abundant and dangerous. The solution starts in ending the silence surrounding every instance of racism people come across in their daily lives. Indifference can often be more venomous than an actual incident. One way to begin ridding the world of racism is to abolish stereotypes. The poet Mohja Kahf states it beautifully in a poem entitled Hijab Scene #7 from her 2003 book E-mails from Scheherezad. “ No I’m not bald under this scarf. No I’m not from that country where women can’t drive cars. No I wouldn’t like to defect. I’m already an American… Yes I speak English. Yes I carry explosives. They’re called words. And if you don’t get up off your assumptions they’re going to blow you away.”

It is hopeful to know that some reparations and apologies have been made to former Japanese American internees, but that doesn’t make up for the time they lost or the pain and humiliation they suffered. If the government were truly sorry then why do they continue to repeat the same blasphemous mistakes today against citizens of Middle Eastern descent? And why do they allow it in other institutional settings?
Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you look to organizations and individuals who have made pro-active steps to combat hate. Ibish reports on pages 134-138, in the same report as cited above, many instances of support for the Muslim and Arab communities. He discusses fund raising efforts to fight “ backlash”. Also many people stepped up after 9/11 in support of Mosques. The ADC Research Institute also received many messages of solidarity from all over the country. One went as follows, from an undisclosed city in the USA, “ I’m Japanese American… Today we all must feel like what people felt when Pearl Harbor was bombed… dismay, shock, anger, a terrible tragedy. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was the hope that there will not be anti- Arab sentiments like that directed at Japanese Americans during WWII. I pray that the American people do not treat Arab Americans now like they treated my people back then. I hope history does not repeat itself. Take care.” Unfortunately this sentiment is more haunting than hopeful, but at least historical connections are being seen by many.

“ No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Those accused of a crime shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.” These are protections guaranteed in the 5th and 6th amendments. If we as citizens know the rights laid out in the Constitution then is it not our duty as ethical members of humanity to fight against racism in any form and on any level? I will conclude with an appropriate quote from Margaret Mead who said, “ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Sources
Boosahda, Elizabeth. Arab-American Faces and Voices: The Origins of an Immigrant Community. University of Texas Press, Austin, 2003.
Boosahda’s 2003 work is a history of Arab immigration to the to the United States, centering around the community of Worcester, Mass. Issues of prejudice and fears of deportation are covered on pp.133-170 and again on pp.204-206. The work also discusses Arab-American men who volunteered as servicemen to fight in U.S. wars. Concerning the current day conflicts Boosahda writes, “ The Arab-American community is outraged over tragedies befallen relatives abroad…Despite the lack of even-handedness in the Arab-Israeli conflict by the United States government, and negative defamation and stereotyping, their loyalty is to America first. That loyalty and love has been passed down from generations of immigrants looking for opportunity and a better life.” ( p.204)

Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project. Teacher’s Resource Guide. Funded
By Washington Civil Liberties Public Education Program, 2003.
This 2003 guide is meant to help teachers plan a curriculum to educate students about Japanese American experiences, internment included. A timeline of events leading up to internment is included, also includes a map of internment camp locations, and sample lesson plans for instructors. Discusses racism and causes of incarceration. A well-detailed guide with many informative sources cited. Bill of Rights included here.

Foster, Heath. “ It’s Important to Right this Wrong.” Seattle Post Intelligencer. 5 Feb.
2001. A1+.
Foster’s 2001 article refers to the wrongness of Japanese internment camps during WWII and the necessity of apologies and reparations needed for that. The work also goes into great detail about the life of a Japanese American man, Yamashita. It discusses his experiences with the internment, and his fight afterwards for civil rights justice.
Heuterman, Thomas. The Burning Horse: The Japanese American Experience in the
Yakima Valley 1920-1942. Eastern Washington University Press, 1995.
Heuterman’s 1995 book states that the racism and hate crimes Japanese Americans experienced was prevalent before the internment camps of WWII, and that the Yakima Valley of the Pacific Northwest was the home of some of the most venomous of such events. Many statistics are cited in the appendix of pre-Pearl Harbor incidences of racial cruelty.
Ibish, Hussein, ed. 1998 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination against
Arab-Americans. Washington D.C.: ADC Research Institute, 2001.
Ibish’s 2001 report outlines intolerance against Arab-Americans and the issues facing Arab Americans when dealing with society’s discrimination towards them, in both the U.S. and Europe, before 9/11. The report includes topics such as taunting, violence, political cartoons, racist speech, false accusations of terrorist activities, airport problems, media intolerance, employment and education discrimination, and police brutality.
Ibish, Hussein, ed. Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination against
Arab-Americans: The Post September 11 Backlash/ Sept. 11, 2001-
Oct.11,2002. Washington D.C.: ADC Research Institute, 2003.
Ibish’s 2003 report surveys experiences of the American community following the 9/11 attacks, during the year after. The report includes information on hate crimes and civil liberties concerns. Patriot Act II is discussed and the new discriminatory immigration policies. The report also proposes solutions directed towards the government to aid in such problems. Also highlights positive support Arab Americans have received post 9/11 in the way of fundraisers, Mosque support, and escorts for safety concerns.

Japanese American Internment Camps during WWII. Photographs from Special
Collection Department at the Marriott Library, University of Utah. Internet Source
Available at: lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm. 1 Dec. 2003.
A brief history is given here on the Japanese internment camps. The photographs exhibited are from camps in Topaz, Utah and Tule, California. The one in Tule is infamous for horrible labor camps and internee strikes. The Photos are very sad and telling in their nature.
Kahf, Mohja. E-mails from Scheherazad. The University Press of Florida, 2003.
Kahf’s 2003 book is a collection of poetry from the perspective of a Muslim woman in the United States. Many poems in the book reflect the feeling of ‘invisibility’ experienced by many Muslim women in the U.S. The topic of stereotypes is widely addressed as well. A very touching and enlightening read.Kowtko, Stacy. Issei, Nisei., And Our Say: A Historigraphical Analysis of Japanese
American Internment During World War II. A thesis presented to Eastern
Washington University for a Master’s Degree, 2000.
Kowtko’s 2000 historigraphical thesis uses a timeline approach to discuss the forcible relocation of the Japanese American citizens during WWII. Efforts to justify such events are also cited. Towards the end of her piece ( p.69) , the author proposes that education is the solution to bring accountability to the wrongs of the U.S. government concerning said events.
Minear, Richard H., ed. Dr. Seuss Goes To War: The World WarII Editorial cartoons
Of Theodor Seuss Geissel. The New Press, New Press, New York.1999.
Minear’s 1999 work includes in it the propaganda political cartoons of Dr. Seuss. Laid out here is the fact that Seuss, beloved children’s author is in reality a racist and the cartoons prove that. His work is especially racist in nature towards Japanese people some times depicted as animals( monkeys and alley cats). The work also includes anti-Hitler and Mussolini cartoons. Minear makes an interesting point on p.120 that while Seuss is racist towards Japanese people, he is also very against racism involving Black and Jewish people. Definitely a shocking and disturbing work, but very interesting as well. This is also the source for the “ alleycat” cartoon.
Politicalhumor.about.com
This is political writer Daniel Kurtzman’s official website. This is the source for the “Bin Laden cartoon” and the “ Afghan Spice Girls Cartoon.”Sone, Monica. Nisei Daughter. University of Washington Press, 1953.
Sone’s 1953 book is an autobiographical memoir of a Japanese American woman who grew up in Seattle and endured the internment camps during WWII. It discusses her personal experiences in childhood and adolescence as well. Sone’s memoir speaks of what life was like in the camps and expresses the fears and worries of the internees.
Shakir, Evelyn. Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States. Praeger Publishers, 1997.
Book discusses how Arab American women have been degraded in the US for years. Includes many interviews with such women.Tawa, Renee. Article: Childhood Lost: The Orphans of Manzanar.Los Angeles Times . 11 March 1997.
This article discusses Japanese American orphan internees during WWII.“ USA Patriot Act.” American Civil Liberties Union Website. 2pp. Internet.
27 Oct. 2003. Available at: aclu.org/SafeandFree.cfm.
This particular web page from the ACLU defines USA Patriot Act II, which inhibits freedoms on citizens and gives the FBI power over medical, student, and library records. This act was instilled 45 days after 9/11. Also includes press releases, publications, conservative voices, and other legislative items. It is a very helpful definition source, kept simple. Includes references to Constitution.
Webb, Tina. Interview on March 7, 2004.
Tina is a cab driver that currently works in Seattle and is also a personal acquaintance.