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Arab Americans' Perceptions of Their Experiences with Police Post 9/11 University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2018 Arab Americans’ Perceptions of Their Experiences with Police Post 9/11 in Metropolitan Milwaukee Ayman Khatib University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching Commons, and the Higher Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Khatib, Ayman, "Arab Americans’ Perceptions of Their Experiences with Police Post 9/11 in Metropolitan Milwaukee" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 1843. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1843 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ARAB AMERICANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH POLICE POST 9/11 IN METROPOLITAN MILWAUKEE by Ayman A. Khatib A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2018 ABSTRACT ARAB AMERICANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH POLICE POST 9/11 IN METROPOLITAN MILWAUKEE by Ayman A. Khatib The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2018 Under the Supervision of Professor Larry Martin The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had a serious impact on local police relations and their local minority groups. September 11, 2001, negatively shaped the treatment of Arab Americans at the hands of local police and many arms of the federal government. This was due to the increased role of local police in intelligence gathering and immigration law enforcement. Many urban police departments shifted their policing strategies from community policing to traditional crime fighting and intelligence gathering after September 11, 2001. Arab Americans as a local minority community suffered the brunt of such strategies where police routinely disregarded many rules of law enforcement during their interactions with Arab Americans. As several researchers focused on a similar topic related to terrorism in general that “Counterterrorism has clearly emerged as one of the top priorities in the post 9/11 era of American policing” (Sun, Wu, & Poteyeva, 2011, p. 540). However, the nature of fear and distrust of police and federal agencies among members of the Arab community was under- analyzed in the literature. This research was designed to examine how Arab Americans perceive their local police based on their experiences and to what extent Arab Americans’ experiences and perceptions inform their decisions in terms of contacting police when needed post 9/11in metropolitan Milwaukee. In this qualitative study, I interviewed 15 Arab Americans living in ii Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. After establishing the participants’ demographic backgrounds, I asked four major questions: (1) How do Arab Americans perceive police post 9/11 in Metropolitan Milwaukee? (2) How do Arab Americans’ backgrounds influence their formal understanding of American police? (3) What are the critical incidents/personal or vicarious experience(s) that define the relationship between Arab Americans and police? (4) What is the nature and consequences of Arab Americans’ contact with police? The responses were analyzed, and I manually extracted recurring themes. Three themes emerged (1) Arab Americans’ perception of their own racial identity influence their interpretation of encounters with local police post 9/11; (2) Arab Americans’ personal encounters with local police resulted in positive and negative experiences of police; and (3) Arab Americans’ suspiciousness of the motives of law enforcement officers. Research into the meanings of Arab Americans’ experiences and perceptions can inform law enforcement agencies about how to provide treatment that is more equitable and have dialogue that is more constructive to this community. iii © Copyright by Ayman A. Khatib, 2018 All Rights Reserved iv To my parents, my wife, and especially my children v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... ii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ...............................................................................................................................x Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND .................................................................................1 Introduction to the Study .............................................................................................................1 Background of the Study .............................................................................................................8 Racial Labels ........................................................................................................................9 Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................................10 Brief History of Arab Americans in the U.S. ............................................................................11 Demographics ............................................................................................................................13 First Arab Americans in Milwaukee ..................................................................................13 Cultural Considerations .....................................................................................................15 Arab Americans Traditions/Norms ....................................................................................15 Particularly Sensitive Cultural Attributes for Arab Americans .........................................17 Images of Arabs on American Television .........................................................................20 Research Questions ...................................................................................................................20 Importance of the Study ............................................................................................................21 Operational Definition of Terms ...............................................................................................22 Summary ...................................................................................................................................24 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................................................26 Research Importance .................................................................................................................26 Race and Conflict Theory ..........................................................................................................28 Sense of Injustice Model ....................................................................................................29 Group Position Model ........................................................................................................30 Critical Race Theory .................................................................................................................37 Arab American Racialization ....................................................................................................42 Summary ...................................................................................................................................43 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................45 Phenomenological Research Overview .....................................................................................45 Bracketing in Qualitative Research ...................................................................................47 Methodological Framework of Qualitative Research ...............................................................47 Research Questions ...................................................................................................................49 Design Considerations ...............................................................................................................52 Confidentiality and Protection of Human Subjects ...................................................................52 Sampling and Sampling Rationale ............................................................................................53 vi Data Collection ..........................................................................................................................55 Data Analysis Method ...............................................................................................................57 Quality Control ..........................................................................................................................61 Summary ...................................................................................................................................64 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................................66 Overview of Themes
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