------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- COAST TO COAST, HUMAN SOLIDARITY ANSWERS WAVE OF XENOPHOBIA By Greg Butterfield After Sept. 11, a wave of racist terror swept across the United States. It targeted Muslims and Arab Americans, other people perceived as "looking Middle Eastern," and people of color in general. Hundreds of violent incidents and threats have been reported. On a single day-Sept. 15-three immigrants living in the western United States were killed in separate incidents. Much of the violence has gone unreported by the corporate media or been concealed amid the glorification of flag- waving chauvinism since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Officially, President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft condemned the attacks on Arabs and Muslims. But their actions tell a different story. These are not merely random, lamentable acts by "outraged" individuals. The lynchings take place in the context of government/media racist profiling of all Arabs and Muslims as potential "suspects" in the Sept. 11 attacks. The Bush administration's frenzied push toward a new war of aggression in the Middle East, with the near-unanimous consent of congressional Democrats, sent a signal to racist forces that it was open season on immigrants and people of color. Attempting to further ratchet up this divide-and-conquer atmosphere, the far-right Christian fundamentalists Rev. Jerry Falwell and broadcaster Pat Robertson went on national television to blame lesbians and gays, feminists, abortion doctors, and supporters of church-state separation for the World Trade Center disaster. "A pattern of collective blame and scapegoating against Arab Americans and Muslims seems to be emerging even before the culpability of a single individual has been established," said Ziad Asali, president of the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee, in a Sept. 12 statement. SIKHS TARGETED One of those slain was Balbir Singh Sodhi, a native of Punjab, India. Sodhi practiced the Sikh religion and wore a traditional turban and beard. He had lived and worked in the United States for 10 years. Sodhi managed a gas station in Mesa, Ariz., where he was shot and killed. Sodhi's killer, Frank Roque, later shot at a Lebanese worker at another gas station, then fired into the home of an Afghani American family. When he was arrested, Roque shouted, "I stand for America all the way." (New York Times, Sept. 17) Sikhs, who are not Muslims and do not come from the Middle East, report being targets of abuse in many areas because of their appearance. Another lynching victim, Waqar Hassan, was a gas station manager and an immigrant from Pakistan who lived in a Dallas suburb. The third victim, Adelal Karas, was an Egyptian Christian living in San Gabriel, Calif. Mosques and Islamic centers have been firebombed in Chicago, Seattle, Cleveland, Denton, Texas, Smithtown, N.Y., and many other cities. The firebombing of a Brooklyn, N.Y., mosque was narrowly averted when the bomber got scared and fled. Schools in one Louisiana parish were closed after Muslim children were threatened. Many Muslim women won't leave their homes, fearing their veils will make them targets. On Aug. 12 and 13 in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Ill., racist mobs carrying U.S. and Confederate flags tried to march on a mosque. In another Chicago suburb, Palos Heights, a Moroccan gas attendant was attacked by a machete-wielding goon. "I am afraid for my kids," said Taiseer Jadallah, a Palestinian living in St. Petersburg, Fla., after a death threat was taped to his truck's windshield. A prisoner at FCC Coleman Low, a facility in Coleman, Fla., reported that Middle Eastern inmates "are being rounded up and put in solitary confinement, where they are being punished like offenders and then being mentally tortured by guards that have advised them that in a state of war they will be the first to be exterminated by gas." By Sept. 15, some 210 incidents of violence or threats of violence had been reported, according to the Council of American-Islamic Relations. LEGAL AND EXTRALEGAL THREATS In some areas the scapegoating of Middle Eastern peoples has spilled over into a general racist assault on all people of color. In Flint, Mich., a Latina student was subjected to slurs and threats at her mostly white high school. "Kids taunted her, saying, 'Go back where you came from,'" the girl's mother told the Flint Journal. "She said, 'I'm American born.' They said it doesn't matter-you're not white." Legal and extralegal threats have created difficult conditions for progressive movements, especially those led by people of color. Al Awda, the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition, has refocused a planned Sept. 23 march in New York, in solidarity with Arab and Muslim people. In Philadelphia, a Sept. 15 demonstration for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was postponed. "There are serious questions about the security situation here," explained the International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal in a Sept. 14 statement. The group told of two local activists being harassed by federal "anti-terrorist" agents the day before. "To add to this," the statement continued, "there have been numerous attacks on both Arab and Muslim people and their businesses in the city. One woman was attacked by a group of men, and when she tried to report it [to the police] she was told it did not happen." Attacks have also been reported in Canada, Britain and other imperialist countries. In Brisbane, Australia, a school bus carrying Muslim children was stoned. FALWELL BLAMES GAYS, WOMEN Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, fundamentalist Christians and Republican politicians, tried to heap fuel on the fire Sept. 14. On Robertson's "700 Club" television show-broadcast nationally on the Fox Family Channel-Falwell said the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks took place because "God will not be mocked." Falwell continued: "I really believe the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way-all of them who have tried to secularize America-I point the finger in their face and say, you helped this happen." Robertson agreed. "The words of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson yesterday were stunning," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian/gay/ bi/trans civil-rights organization. "They are beyond contempt. They are irresponsible at best, and a deliberate attempt to manipulate the nation's anger at worst." Birch continued, "The words of these men are similar to the acts of equally contemptible retribution that are being waged against people of Middle Eastern origin or appearance in some areas of our country." 'SHOW TRUE MEANING OF SOLIDARITY' Many progressive, anti-racist and anti-war individuals and organizations have responded to the attacks under these difficult circumstances. These largely spontaneous efforts of people all over the country to show solidarity with those under attack and to reject a militarist reaction by the government are heartening, and will become a potent force as their activities become more coordinated and organized. In New York on Sept. 14, while Bush was leading a pro-war rally in lower Manhattan, thousands gathered at Union Square Park for an alternative vigil. The theme was: "Mourn the victims. Stand for peace." Many held signs reading: "Islam is not the enemy. War is not the answer." The park has continued to be a gathering place for multinational crowds almost every evening. In Columbus, Ohio, a "No to War, Yes to Peace" coalition was formed after a large number of people, many African American, went to the City Council and asked it to condemn ethnic and religious scapegoating, defend civil rights and liberties, and say no to war. On campuses across the country, students began to mobilize immediately. Groups have held rallies, vigils and joined defense of threatened mosques. September 20 has been set as a National Student Day of Action Against Scapegoating Arab Americans and to Stop the War. Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labor Congress, urged the union federation's 2.5 million members "to make it a personal responsibility to protect and promote the respect, safety and well-being of our Muslim or Arab sisters and brothers. This is the time for us all to show the true meaning of solidarity," he said. A group of members of the Auto Workers union addressed a letter "to our Arab American co-workers at the Ford Rouge and other plants" in the Detroit area. It read in part: "There are reports from around the U.S. about serious problems experienced by Arab Americans and Muslims and their institutions. ... As activists in Local 600, we want to be informed about problems experienced by UAW members who are, or who are perceived to be, Arab Americans or Muslims. We want to help provide support for people affected by problems like these." The authors of the letter are drafting a resolution they hope will be endorsed by the local. The International Action Center announced it was changing its Sept. 29 "Surround the White House" demonstration to focus on building opposition to the war drive and the racist attacks on Arab and Muslim peoples. Actions are also planned that day in San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more information, see related articles in this issue or visit www.iacenter.org. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
