Islamophobia and the Muslim Other

I chose to discuss attitudes toward Muslims in the United States since September 11, 2001. There are currently 3.45 million Muslims living in the United States, of which about 75% were born Muslim, and they typically face discrimination every day. The discrimination ranges, but it exists on the most extreme and the mildest levels. The FBI reported in 2017 that, of those 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, nearly 20% suffered from a religious hate crime. That is 690,000 Muslims suffering a hate crime that only occurred due to their religion and was bad enough to report to the police. To understand this phenomenon, I researched with a specific question in mind: How have attitudes toward Muslims changed in the United States since September 11, 2001, and what can we do to end discrimination against them? To do this, I used sources from historians, geographers, and sociologists. Historians helped me understand how public policies and historic relations between the U.S. and the Middle East have affected Americans’ perceptions of Muslims. Geographers helped me see where the discrimination occurs the most, and why. Sociologists helped me recognize how factors like education and mass communications affect Americans’ perceptions of Muslims. Attitudes toward Muslims have negatively changed in the United States since September 11, 2001, with increased discrimination against the Muslim population, and we can end this discrimination through more well-rounded education and protective public policy, achieved through a nation-wide social movement