It was only a matter of time after the Boston Marathon bombings before hate crimes against those of Middle Eastern descent began to spike. In an article published on colorlines.com, recent hate crimes against Middle Easterners because of the Boston bombings are listed and examined. The article compares these violent acts to those committed following the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Middle Easterners are being generalized as terrorists and being attacked for simply being, because some people still refuse to separate terrorism from race and religion and continue to associate all Muslims and Middle Eastern people with extremism and terrorism.
I had hoped that people might have learned to make this distinction in the 12 years since 9/11, but, given the recent rise in hate crimes following the Boston bombings, it seems that America is farther from acceptance than I had thought.
This needs to be fixed. After over a decade, some Americans still view all Middle Easterners and Muslims as dangerous. However, I know that it will take an extremely long time for total acceptance to occur, if ever. Just look at African American people; it has been half a century since equality was granted to them in America, and yet there is still much racism present in modern-day America. Though I don't like to admit it, this and the resurgence in hate crimes against Middle Easterners may just show that there will always be discrimination against every non-white race in America at some level.
It's up to the people of America to break this trend. It can be possible to change this, no matter how difficult, so long as there are sufficient amounts of people presently working against discrimination and teaching their children and the children of others (perhaps through education programs in schools) the truth--that everyone is equal, no matter what.
Source: colorlines.com (See Article Here)
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