Muslims in U.S. suffer reaction to terror threats

[Kadie]

Muslims in U.S. suffer reaction to terror threats
Ashcroft warning has Bay Area Arabs braced for trouble

Cicero A. Estrella, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 27, 2004


The racial epithets don't surprise Maher Martha anymore. He most often hears the anti-Muslim rhetoric when he stands outside the San Francisco electronics store where he works. He says the hatred intensified after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and worsens every time the government increases the terrorist alert level.

Martha, a Christian who is originally from the Palestinian territories, says those who discriminate don't bother to look beyond his physical features. Shortly after war broke out between the United States and Iraq, a passer-by told Martha: "We've taken over your country, now we're going to take over your women."

"To them, Middle Eastern is Middle Eastern," said the Rohnert Park resident. "We're all alike."

Martha is expecting heightened tensions after Attorney General John Ashcroft warned the nation that al Qaeda is planning an attack on U.S. soil in the next few months. On Wednesday, Ashcroft released photos of seven suspected al Qaeda operatives that the FBI has been pursuing for months.

"Every time there's a threat, people start to act differently," said Martha. "They see a Middle Eastern guy and start thinking maybe he's the one."

more... http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/27/MNGKU6SF4C1.DTL

[The Stranger]

1. It is a war based on and justified by racism. Ashcroft and the Fundie

Christians embrace this as subtext. More than two questions asked of them reveals this.

[parasim]

2. Exactly what I expected to happen

when Ashroft started showing pictures of suspects.

Unbelievable how irresponsible this administration is!

[DRoseDARs]

3. Hell, here in Reno a 16-yr-old girl recieved death threats for being...

...a Muslim. But that's not the worst part. The article that pictured her with her older brother and their mother triggered a number of calls to the FBI from people who thought the bother looked like one of the 7 terror suspects whose photos were just released by the FBI.

The brother doesn't look anything like any of the 7. And yet again the family is subjected to undue heartache. :mad:

[DRoseDARs]

4. Here are the RGJ articles from yesterday and today...

The sister's ordeal:
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/05/26/71611.php

and then the brother's ordeal:
http://rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/05/26/71671.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news&jsmultitag=news.rgj.com/news/local

[skjpm]

5. I knew this would happen, too

I think that Ashcroft just wanted to make all Muslim-Americans everywhere look shady. Everyone who has a Muslim neighbor or paperboy is going to call in. No one's actually going to look at the pictures--those terrorists all look alike anyway, don't they? Ashcroft is a godsend for the Gladys Kravitz's of the US.

[Frances]

6. An African American student told me not long after 9/11

that for the first time in his life he was not the one being profiled.

It seems that some people just like to be racist, no matter what race they are profiling