Societal Changes Discussion

Following the attack on America on September 11, there was noted an elevation in the hate crimes against the Muslim American. There was a rise in the upsurge of negative stereotypes that emanated from the larger society. The Muslim immigrants started experiencing negative attitudes based on their racial and religious orientation (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). By 2010, it was observed that over six million Muslims lived among in America. The most common media spread stereotype is that connected any individual with Muslim orientation with terrorism. The US signed the Patriot Act that made it legal for the attorney general to detain non-citizens thought to be connected to terrorism without any warrant. The law also permitted new surveillance rules for the U.S law enforcements that increased the surveillance of the Muslim community. The Muslim community has continued to experience physical and social discrimination being carried out over the phones, social media, minor assaults, and vandalism (Moore, 2010).

How communities and leaders have addressed anti-Muslim sentiment or actions

It can be recognized that one of the main fuels of the anti-Muslim sentiment is by the political leaders. The politicians use this as a patriotic sentiment thereby creating an enabling environment for the propagation of the anti-Muslim sentiments. To end this, there can be collaboration between the Muslim and non-Muslim community members to call for support for the safety and well-being of American Muslims. An example of such campaigns is the “Stand with American Muslims.”  This campaign seeks to make call that lifts the blame normally put on all Muslim based on some violent actions of a few. 

The school communities need to make an intervention to prevent the acts of violence and discrimination speech targeting the Muslim students and teachers. The school communities have and may establish civic education that has been ignored in the normal educational policy and practice. This prepares the students to live cohesively and function properly as part of the American democratic society. This teaches the students to uphold the democratic values in the wake of social and political expectations.

Hate Crime Statutes

It has been observed that the federal government and the states have passed pieces of legislation aimed at addressing hate crime. Discussions have emerged in regard to hate crime law seeking to determine the necessity of having a crime law where the act is covered by criminal law or whether the hate crime laws may end up causing crimes against some groups through punishments. Hate crime is viewed as a criminal offense perpetuated against a member of a community with an aim of creating a bias against the individual’s race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. Hate crime law refers to a piece of legislation developed to address the hate or bias motivated crime. The first federal statute has been the Hate Crime Statistics Act passed in 1990 which paved way for other statutes. 

The hate crime laws are created with a primary intention of providing harsher punishment for crimes based on biasness as opposed to other crimes not motivated by discrimination. Hate crimes are known to cause higher personal and societal harm as compared to other crimes.  For this reasons, the federal government and the states indicated that these crimes are likely to create instances of retaliatory crimes which may end up causing community unrest.

The hate crime laws are a means of the government making it clear that bigotry cannot be accepted nor tolerated.  Those who are in favor of this position indicated that, it is hard for a government to consider a neutral stance to the hate crime and thus  establishing laws against it is a way of indicating value judgment (ODIHR, 2009).

Benefits of prosecuting the Hate Crime Offenders

Prosecuting the offenders of the hate crime is a demonstration of the rejection by the community of crimes motivated by discrimination. It indicates a societies’ condemnation of these offences thereby putting greater punishment.  By prosecuting the offenders of hate crime laws, it is a way of punishing the increased culpability of the perpetrator. This is because the motive of the act increases its magnitude of seriousness (ODIHR, 2009).

References

Khan, M., & Ecklund, K. (2012). Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11. Journal of Muslim Mental Health.

Moore, A. (2010). American Muslim Minorities: The New Human Rights Struggle. Topical Research Digest: Minority Rights.ODIHR. (2009). Hate Crime Laws. Warsaw: Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights