------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 12, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
BY THE FBI'S OWN ADMISSION: SHARP RISE IN ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS IN U.S. By Leslie Feinberg The FBI is a big cog in the repressive state machinery that manufactures the policy of racist profiling. And the political police play a big role in demonizing Arab, South Asian and Muslim people as "potential terrorists" in order to shroud the U.S. military drive to conquer the oil-rich Middle East and Central Asia part-and-parcel. So when FBI bigwigs admit that hate crimes against Muslims in this country have shot up steeply, there's no ground for disbelief. The agency issues an annual report of hate crimes in the United States. If anything, FBI statistics have been berated for under-reporting. And victims of hate crimes--an amorphously named legal category for victims of myriad forms of oppression--are often loathe to voluntarily walk into police precincts, fearing additional abuse. This is especially true for Muslims at this time. Although they are being "disappeared" in silence, it's no secret that many Muslims have been rounded up and imprisoned without charges. They fear that the next step is deportation. So oftentimes Arab, South Asian and Muslim people in this country endure attacks on their persons and their property without reporting it to the authorities. Yet even if the FBI downsizes the actual numbers, the reality of the statistical trend cannot be suppressed: reported racist attacks on Muslims in the U.S. last year increased by more than 1,600 percent. The number of filed incident reports leaped from 28 in the year 2000 to 481 last year. It's important to note that while attacks on Muslims have mounted precipitously during the Bush administration's war at home and abroad, racism in general is rife in this capitalist citadel. And other forms of oppression illustrate that this is what "democracy" looks like-- democracy as a form of rule by and for the wealthy elite, that is. Most of last year's hate crimes were fueled by racism. These attacks stepped up 45 percent. And the majority were carried out against African Americans. Assaults motivated by prejudice against ethnicity or national origin jumped 22 percent. Religious bias attacks rose 22 percent. Hate crimes based on perceived sexual orientation were up 14 percent. Anti-disabled offenses grew by three tenths of a percent. Virtually every anti-war march, rally and vigil in the United States since 9/11 has highlighted the demand to stop the domestic war against Muslim, Arab and South Asian people in this country. And at a time of deepening capitalist economic and military crisis, combating this sharp climb in bigoted attacks must be a high priority of the fight-back movement in order to cement solidarity in the struggles of workers and oppressed peoples. - 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] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ 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]>
