Some Local Muslims Still Feel Scrutinized

CLEVELAND -- After Sept. 11, local Arab-Americans believed they would become targets and that trouble would come in bunches.

NewsChannel5's Ted Hart spoke with a couple of local Muslims on some of the bad and the good.

"I was scared," Suna Aziz (pictured, right) said. "I was afraid to leave my house."

Like most Americans, Aziz still shudders when she thinks back to Sept. 11. But as an Arab-American, she knew there would be a widespread cloud of suspicion against friends and family, and she worried about acts of violence.

A few days later, a man plowed his car into the front of her mosque.

It was on the day her mosque was attacked that Aziz decided it was time to leave the house again. She went to the mosque and answered phones for eight hours; there were calls from all kinds of Clevelanders offering help. She said the experience changed her life.

"I couldn't keep up with all the calls," she said. "(It was) such a wonderful experience. I swore from that day, I would never be afraid to leave again, at least not in Cleveland."

But now, a year later, many Arab-Americans said they still feel as though they're being watched.

"A lot of times we're subject to a lot more scrutiny by police officers and authorities, and we kind of resent that," said Fred Hamed, a retired teacher.

Hamed (pictured, left) said that Arab-Americans now have to be even more careful about what they say and have to try even harder not to stand out.

"I don't see the overt racism," he said. "If it's there, I'm not seeing it. But (for) people who dress (in the) traditional way, (there have) been some incidents."

Hamed said that one of the beautiful things about Americans is their willingness to learn and listen.

Over the past year, the Islamic center in Parma has had an unprecedented number of visitors -- people hoping to better understand the Islamic religion and the Arab culture.