Discrimination may have several definitions. The idea that different persons receive different treatment from the society or its agents explains the existence of discrimination. However, the concept of discrimination is quite multifaceted. The basis under which an individual is discriminated upon may range from gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, age and in some cases political affiliation. It is the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 that shifted the concept of discrimination based on race and religion. Racial and religious profiling has since taken center stage in the defining 21st century discrimination . The act of terrorism on the September 11th, the worst on US soil, led to both the government and the general community to embody a condescending and repugnant opinion towards Muslim and Arab communities . This group is said to be composed of Middle East and South Asian nationalities. This new form of discrimination has been fostered to alarming levels putting all the freedoms and liberties in jeopardy. This research paper evaluates discrimination based on profiling of races, nationalities and religion.
Review of Terrorism
Terrorism is a phenomenon that the twenty-first century society has had a huge burden of dealing with. This is a situation where by deliberate and directed violence is used against members of a specific community in order to pass some definite message. Terrorists groups hope that by attacking noncombatant civilians, those in authority may probably be coerced into responding the demands of the terrorist organization.
The idea of terrorism has been a societal problem for many generations in many parts of the world. However, while in the past it was possible to ignore the threats posed by terrorist organizations, the acts of 9/11 have since changed these perceptions. Today, the American government has clearly elaborated that terrorism poses the greatest threat to national security (Weitzer & Tuch, 2002). Thus, to curb this threat the U.S. government has since turned to ‘non-conventional’ strategies.
Immediately after 9/11
Under the leadership president Bush, the U.S. faced the worst attacks its history. Here, apart from losing thousands of lives in the attacks, the government was put at a tight spot for having ignored consistent intelligence reports on Middle East terrorist groups operating in the U.S. . While the attacks took place on US soil, there was clear indication that most of the terrorist were both Muslim as well as Arab in race. For this reason, the Attorney General Ashcroft developed a strategy that might help identify other possible terrorists. In this directive, the FBI and other law enforcement bodies were to interview about 5000 men who had recently entered the U.S. . In this directive, the 5000 men would be identified by nationalities. The Justice Department, who would later acknowledge no premise for such wanton arrests, descended on Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities and rounded up people. Mosques, homes, universities and other social places were raided with huge numbers of suspects arrested.
Similar interviews in March of 2002 were carried out. Here another 3000 men of Arabic or South Asian origin legally in the US were arrested and interviewed . The federal government using local police departments and other federal arms of the government arrested innocent men based on the race and religion. Profiling based on nationality is said to be institutionalized by the U.S. federal government when it decided to arrest these men.
National Security Entry Exit Registration System
Later in June of 2002, the Justice Department announced that it would introduce a new program referred to National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) that established rules and regulations that appertains registration. Here the government envisioned a process that would lead to the massive registration of person from countries deemed allies of terrorism. In a move similar to the Nazi Germany government, the American government sought to register all males above the age of 15 from about nations. Every male was report to a government agency, get fingerprinted and questioned. In this directive, all Arab and predominantly Muslim nation had been identified with the exception of North Korea . While this requirement was fully publicized, individuals who had not taken effort to register themselves in the NSEERS program were soon susceptible to deportation.
Liu (2011) asserts that such racial profiling is detrimental to a nation and its people. While security forces may use security reasons as the driving force behind such racial profiling, scholars have asserted that discriminatory program neither advance national security nor secures a country’s immigration status. In proving this Liu (2011) explains that after about 83,000 males registered in the program, none of them were arrested or tried for cases of terrorism.
Social impact of Government Led Profiling
The cost implication on the social structure and the lives of Americans as a result of government instituted racial and regional discrimination cannot be overlooked. The incalculable nature of human cost can only be illustrated by imagination. Here, honesty, patriotic and law-abiding citizens are rounded up and questioned if they were enemies of humanity. In such circumstances, families are separated and homes destroyed. Businesses and livelihood are wrecked by such events without a clear way of provided retribution.
The Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (PATRIOTIC) further allowed suspects to be detained with trail for an unlimited period of time . The Department of Justice under the Attorney General Ashcroft suggested that creating new authorities and state organs would be the best way forward for the nation. To do this, there was need for a new legislation that would give counterterrorism organs more room within which to operate. The new legislation, commonly referred to as the Patriotic Act would allow federal authorities to intercept all forms of electronic communication. Terrorism suspects would also be detained without trial. This direct violation of human rights made the legislation to be one of the most controversial in the history of congress. The controversy further extended to those targeted by law enforcing bodies. Here Arabs, Muslim and South Asian communities were mainly targeted for surveillance.
Such unfounded legislation led to the detention of several suspects and the eventual deportation several Pakistanis. Of the several Pakistanis deported, some of them had spent nearly half their lives in the U.S. Some of the deportees had even forgotten to speak or write Arabic.
Suggested solutions
One of the possible to the government inflicted racial discrimination is the proposed End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) . This act seeks to end the profiling that is now rampant among law enforcing bodies. Profiling that emerged after the 9/11 attacks was purely based on retaliatory precepts of a panicking government. The Act provides a good first avenue to averting a governmental trend where citizens of good conduct are deprived of their liberties.
The second solution that could be used to end racial discrimination exhibited on profiling is by delinking criminal laws enforcement from immigration laws. This solution points to the idea that person found with minor immigration misconduct should be included in the federal criminal databases. This way local and other law enforcing bodies can have a different view of such suspect.
The third and perhaps the most important solution that can be implemented is ending all the registration of persons from the 25 nations. A sense of dignity and a feeling of ownership gives pride to a citizenry. However, if a portion of the citizens are required by law to register as if they were aliens ultimately taints the relations of such persons with the state.
Conclusions
Profiling of citizens based on the races, religion, nationality and political affiliation goes against the basic principle of American principles. The argument that terrorists originate from these said regions does not give the government the right to impose such repugnant laws against citizens that originated from such nationalities. If history is any thing to go by, crime African American has increased due to the perception of law enforcement of high prevalence. Similarly, profiling based Arabs and Muslims on the basis of terrorism may have a negative effect counterterrorism measures. Deportees may find vendetta and will be turned to terrorism.
References
Boykoff, J. (2006). "Review of How Patriotic is the Patriot Act? Freedom Versus Security in the Age of Terrorism,. The Journal of Politics, 68 (2) , 457-487.
Chandrasekhar, C. (2003). Flying While Brown: Federal Civil Rights Remedies to Post-9/11 Airline Racial Profiling of South Asians. Asian Law Journal , 256-271.
Fisher, W. B. (2008). The Middle East: a physical, social, and regional geography. London: Routledge.
Larry, A., & Maria, G. (2006, Feb 14). The Patriot Act: Key Controversies. Retrieved Dec 5, 2011, from http://www.npr.org/news/specials/patriotact/patriotactprovisions.html
Levy, J. (2007). Terrorism Issues and Developments. Nova Publishers.
Liu, E. (2011). Amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Set to Expire May 27 2011. Boston: DIANE Publishing.
Shaughnessy, H. (2012, 1 23). The Emergence of Social Capitalism: Adaptation or Threat? Retrieved 1 24, 2012, from www.forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/01/23/the-emergence-of-social-capitalism-adaptation-or-threat/2/
Sonja, A., & Phillips, M. (2004). Contextual Influences on Culture Research Shifting: Assumptions for New Workplace Realities. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management Vol 4(3) , 370-390.
Weinberg, L., Pedahzur, A., & Hirsch-Hoefler, S. (2004). The Challenges of Conceptualizing Terrorism. Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence Volume 16, Issue 4, , 777-794.
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. A. (2002). Perceptions Of Racial Profiling: Race, Class, And Personal Experience. Journal of Criminology, 40 , 435-456.
