Arab-Americans, Muslims Face Backlash

Public Mood Turning Against Arab Community

Arab-Americans and Muslims throughout the country say the backlash they feared from Tuesday's attacks is surfacing.

As federal authorities look to fugitive Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden as the possible mastermind behind the disasters, the public mood is sometimes turning against the Arab community.

There are as many as 7 million Americans of the Muslim faith.

Arab-American, Muslim and Sikh leaders are reporting sporadic vandalism and assaults on their communities.

Mosque windows were shattered in Texas, a New York man was arrested on suspicion of making an anti-Arab threat, and a prison fight broke out over Muslim slurs in Washington state.

Threatening phone calls were reported in Washington, Los Angeles and San Jose, Calif.

At the Kuwait Embassy in Washington, Tamara Alfson spent Wednesday counseling frightened Kuwaiti students attending schools across the United States. She said one student was told -- "you should all die."

The director of the Manassas Mosque in Virginia said hate messages and insults were left on the mosque's answering machine.

In an America Online chatroom, anonymous users used racial slurs in messages.

The head of American Airlines warned employees Wednesday not to mistreat Arabs and Muslims because of the attack.

Chief executive Don Carty said he knows people are angry and grieving. But he urged them not to channel that anger and fall prey to stereotypes that he says "we know in our heads and hearts are just not true."

He added that Muslims and Arabs are also grieving over the tragedy.

The director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also urged Americans not to play into the hands of terrorists by acting like them. In Dearborn, Mich., two men were arrested for allegedly assaulting an Arab-American man in Dearborn Tuesday, where the Middle Eastern population is once again having to defend itself in the wake of a terrorist act.

Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, has a large concentration of Arabs and is the core of the region's Arab-American community of about 300,000. Mayor Michael Guido told WDIV-TV in Detroit that the city has doubled police patrols, and that residents have remained calm.

Arab-Americans paint a slightly different picture.

One man was reportedly assaulted Tuesday, after a confrontation with two men, WDIV reported. Racial tensions may have played a role in the attack. Some Arab-American business owners also reported receiving telephone threats.

Ford Motor Co., headquartered in Dearborn, let workers go home shortly after the attack. The automaker said that it will close all of its plants nationwide and in Canada after the second shift.

The Arab-American Community Center, a Dearborn-based civic and political group released a statement denouncing the attacks and pledging its community's support.

"We are in the midst of a national nightmare of unimaginable proportions. Arab-Americans like all Americans are transfixed by this tragedy. We have family and friends who worked in the World Trade Center and for the federal government. We mourn for those who lost their lives and those who were injured," center officials said.

Give Peace A Chance

About 100 anti-war demonstrators gathered in downtown Seattle Tuesday evening, and said they hoped that the United States wouldn't retaliate indiscriminately over terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

Members from groups such as the Western Washington Fellowship of Conciliation were carrying signs with slogans such as "No war," "Have no enemies, find common ground," and "No U.S. massacres in Afghanistan."

One of the demonstrators, Seattle resident Tim Nelson, says that he is worried that people will jump to conclusions and vilify Muslims without even knowing whether Muslim extremists were responsible for the attacks.

Copyright 2001 by NewsNet5.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.