Colm Smith
Professor Raymond Smith
April 21, 2015
Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
Middle Eastern Americans and Criminal Justice Rough Draft
Key Terms:
Middle-Eastern Americans; Arab-Americans; September 11; Hate Crime; Patriot Act; Boston
Bombing
Description:
This brief will focus on some of the major issues concerning Middle-Eastern Americans and the
Criminal Justice system. It can be thought of as examining two aspects of the relationship
between these two: an overly passive set of protections provided by the Criminal Justice system,
and an overly active, racially biased set of power extensions within the Criminal Justice system
as warranted by the Federal Government.
Key Points:
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The Middle-Eastern American population is difficult to define and can be more readily
examined when considered as the Arab-American population
The categorization of Arab-Americans as “White” historically held a beneficial purpose
which has since been eroded
Since 2001 the legislative and non-legislative issues the Arab-American population wants
to deal with have expanded and the problems which arise from these issues have rapidly
become more severe
The racial categorization of Arab-Americans is being reexamined in lieu of new political
needs particularly concerning general safety, protection from overextension of
government and institutional power, and protection from hate crimes which are more
citizen-focused than institutional
Brief:
I. Middle Eastern Americans
Middle Eastern Americans are those who descend from a region which has a degree of
obscurity in definition. For the purposes of United States demographics, the term “ArabAmerican” is most widely analyzed. Arab-American enables a less volatile definition because it
is based in an ethnic group as opposed to a variably defined regional group. Arab-American is an
ethno-linguistic group and encompasses people of nations both in the Middle East and North
Africa. These two regional groups, and especially ethnic Arabs within them, are posited together
to the extent that discussing American Criminal Justice with reference to one and not the other
would be insufficient.
This group has a defined set of 22 nations from which its population is drawn. The
Census Bureau estimates that there are 1.8 million Arab-Americans in the U.S. This number
indicates a 51% increase since 2000. The Arab American Institute estimates that there are 3.7
million Arab-Americans in the U.S. Initial Arab immigrants were from Ottoman provinces and
seen as Turks. As the 20th Century approached there was a transition to classifying Arabspeaking immigrants as “Syrians” all throughout this time they were considered Asian. This
changed in 1909 when naturalization difficulties inherent in anti-Asia laws like the Chinese
Exclusion Act were definitively not applied to this Syrian group- laying the foundation for the
consideration of Middle Eastern and North African- Americans as “White” for census purposes.
II. Hate Crimes and Un-Equal Protection
Hate crimes against Arab-Americans have been driven by periodic events over the past
few decades, most notably 9/11. Hate crimes in the U.S. against Arab-Americans jumped from
28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001 due to xenophobic sentiments related to 9/11. Despite this spike and a
spike following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, among other ebbs and flows, hate crimes
against Arab-Americans remain underreported by law enforcement.
In response to post-Boston Bombing hate crimes, the FBI created a new race for ArabAmericans in its form used to file hate crimes. Calls for a separate racial category for Middle
Eastern and North African people have been increasing in the midst of post-9/11 anti-Arab
sentiment. Since Middle Eastern and North African peoples are currently included in the “White”
racial category they see a dilution of political power in that their issues are mixed and dampened
by issues of the White-European population. This new category would presumably enable a full,
representative voice for the Arab-American population to have their interests streamlined and
highlighted in the political process.
The Patriot Act of 2001 has incited anti-Arab sentiments by creating a system within
which Arab and Muslim Americans are targeted. Though there are numerous official statements
related to the Act and statements in the text purporting to provide equal protection of the law to
Arab and Muslim Americans in practice these are not effective and the act in itself has enabled
suspicion, racial profiling, and even vigilante action on account perceived phenotypically “Arab”
traits. This action has led to discrimination against Arab and Muslim groups but has even
expanded beyond that to Sikh and South Asian groups.
III. Surveillance, Search, and Seizure
Within the text of the Patriot Act there are several disputed sections which allow for
authorities to expedite the process of incarceration. Among these there are three particularly
debated sections: 206, 215, and 6001. According to the ACLU and other critics of these violate
several aspects of Due Process and Search and Seizure laws. Section 215 authorizes the
government to obtain "any tangible thing" relevant to a terrorism investigation, even if there is
no showing that the "thing" pertains to suspected terrorists or terrorist activities Section 206
permits the government to obtain intelligence surveillance orders that identify neither the person
nor the facility to be tapped. And Section 6001 permits secret intelligence surveillance of nonUS persons who are not affiliated with a foreign organization. In addition, the Act enables
National Security Letters (NSLs) which permit the government to obtain the communication,
financial and credit records of anyone deemed relevant to a terrorism investigation even if that
person is not suspected of unlawful behavior. These NSLs come with a nondisclosure
requirement that precludes a court from determining whether the gag is necessary to protect
national security. A 2004 report by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding asserted
that the Patriot Act as a whole has been utilized in a biased manner against minority groups,
particularly Arab-Americans.
Claims like this are further evidenced by leaked Federal Agency actions. An example of
this occurred in 2004 when the Department of Homeland Security mandated that the Census
Bureau provide them with information on all Arab-Americans. The Census Bureau followed this
issuance with a regretful statement regarding the undermining of trust with the Arab-American
population and the Census followed by an internal policy change to make it more difficult to
fulfill future requests of this manner. Though this act by the Department is considered
Constitutional it indicates a bias in the agency surveillance following 9/11 which continues still.
Image 1: http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/sites/default/files/aclu_NSLrequests-1-1.jpg
This image looks at the drastic increase in National Security Letter (NSL) requests to illustrate
the extent post-9/11 of these deep looks into personal matters.
Image 2: http://www.wired.com/2013/02/american-muslim-terrorism/
This image looks at the exorbitant institutional bias against Muslim-Americans.
Works Cited
Aidi, Hisham. "OPINION: Middle Eastern Americans Push Census Change | Al Jazeera
America." Middle Eastern Americans Push Census Change. Aljazeera America, 2
Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
"Hate Crimes Against Arab Americans, Muslims, and Sikhs." The Leadership Conference on
Civil and Human Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Karoub, Jeff. "US Considers Adding Middle Eastern-North African Category to 2020 Census."
US News. U.S.News & World Report, 30 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Krogstad, Jens M. "Census Bureau Explores New Middle East/North Africa Ethnic Category."
Pew Research Center RSS. Pew Research Center, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Lipton, Eric. "Panel Says Census Move on Arab-Americans Recalls World War II Internments."
The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Nov. 2004. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
"Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab American Experience." Not Quite White:
Race Classification and the Arab American Experience. Arab American Institute, 4
Apr. 1997. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
"Reform the Patriot Act." American Civil Liberties Union. American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.
Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Senzai, Farid. "2004 Institute for Social Policy and Understanding Report on the Patriot Act."
ISPU Report "The US Patriot Act: Impact on the Arab and Muslim American
Community" by Arshad Ahmed. Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, 1 Apr.
2004. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Shafer, Jack. "Who You Calling "Arab"?" Arab, Muslim or Middle Eastern? TeachMideast, 17
Feb. 2004. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
"United States." Human Rights Watch World Report 2002. Human Right Watch, n.d. Web. 20
Apr. 2015.