2003-2007 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute | ADC-RI REPORT ON HATE CRIMES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ARAB AMERICANS 20032007 This Report would not be possible with out the support of: The Ford Foundaon The Carnegie Corporaon of New York Editor: Hussein Ibish, PhD; Contributors: Thomas Albert, Laila Al-Qatami, Chrisne Gleichert, Kareem Shora, Nawar Shora, and Marvin Wingfield; Designer: Laila Al-Qatami Copyright ©2008 ADC AMERICAN-ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE 1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW | Washington, DC 20007 Tel: 202-244-2990 | Fax: 202-244-7968 Email: [email protected] | www.adc.org The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage. ADC, which is non-sectarian and non-partisan, is the largest Arab-American grassroots civil rights organization in the United States. Founded by former United States Senator James Abourezk in 1980, ADC’s headquarters are in Washington, DC with chapters nationwide, and members in all 50 States. ADC welcomes members of all faiths, backgrounds, and ethnicities. Former U.S. Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar is currently ADC's president and Safa Rifka, MD, is Chair of the ADC Na- tional Board of Directors. The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational affiliate of ADC that sponsors a wide range of programs and publications on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans. ADC-RI programs include research studies, seminars, conferences and publications that document and analyze the dis- crimination faced by Arab Americans in the workplace, schools, media, and governmental agencies and institutions. • ADC is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage • ADC is at the forefront in addressing discrimination and bias against Arab Americans wherever it is practiced • ADC-RI programs include research studies, seminars, conferences and publications that document and analyze the discrimination faced by Arab Americans in the workplace, schools, media, and governmental agencies and institutions • ADC-RI's intern program for undergraduate, graduate and law students trains a new generation of leaders. • ADC-RI hosts a wide range of cultural programming such as art exhibits, film festivals, roundtable discussions, musical performances, and other events which celebrate the heritage of the Arabs • ADC and ADC-RI believe that their work is helping to pave the way for a better America for all Americans 2 | ADC-RESEARCH INSTITUTE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During the period covered in this report, ADC makes the following findings regarding the overall situaon facing Arab- Americans with regard to hate crimes and discriminaon, civil rights and liberes, and defamaon in our popular and polical culture. • The rate of violent hate crimes against Arab Americans connued decline from the immediate post 9/11 surge, to a level somewhat but not dramacally increased, over that seen in the five years leading up to the 2001 aacks. • The same essenal paern applies to other major forms of hate crimes and discriminaon. • Despite significant pressure from some policians and commentators, the government has not employed formal, sys- temac policies of ethnic or religious profiling in airport security. • The “no fly” lists that are unworkably large, contain common names, and are not reconciled or harmonized between agencies connue to cause significant problems for many Arab and Arab-American passengers. • Discriminaon at airports based on stereotyping, over-zelousness or prejudice by airline personnel or even other pas- sengers is now one of the main sources of discriminaon facing Arab-American air travelers. • Arab-American travelers face serious issues with border crossing detenons and delays, especially on the U.S.-Canada bor- der. • Preventave detenon by pretext remains a concern, although there has been no repeat of the mass round-up of thou- sands of Arab or Muslim immigraon suspects following the 9/11 aacks. 2003-2007 saw the increased use of misapplied material witness detenons as a pretext for preventave detenon, but following greater public scruny prosecutors have employed it more sparingly. • The discriminatory “special registraon” program (NSEERS), while a complete counter-terrorism and immigraon law en- forcement failure and although currently suspended, has created serious hardships for numerous law-abiding individuals. ADC-RESEARCH INSTITUTE | 3 REPORT ON HATE CRIMES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ARAB AMERICANS: 2003-2007 • Detainee abuse, and misconduct by federal, state and local law enforcement officers remain a serious concern. • Thousands of Arabs have faced serious delays in naturalizaon and status adjustment. • Arab-Americans connue to face higher rates of employment discriminaon than in the pre-9/11 period, in both public and private sectors. • Civil liberes concerns remain serious, including the some aspects of the discourse on a homegrown terrorist threat, the reauthorizaon of the PATRIOT Act, aspects of the REAL ID Act, secret evidence provisions, warrantless wiretapping and el- ements of immigraon reform, among other issues. • Arab-American students connue to face significant problems with discriminaon and harassment in schools around the country. • Arab-American students and faculty have faced increased levels of discriminaon and polical harassment campaigns, es- pecially involving the Israeli-Palesnian conflict and efforts by right-wing groups to sfle debate on U.S. foreign policy in ac- ademia. • Defamaon in popular culture and the media remains a serious problem facing the Arab-American community. • In spite of a far beer record from the film and television industry in 2003-2007, defamaon spread wildly in the non-fic- on world of television, magazines, radio, newspapers and websites. A campaign of relentless vilificaon against Muslims and Islam has been the single biggest contributor to the collapse in American public opinion of Islam during this period, even though polling suggested no such anpathy in the immediate aermath of 9/11. • Arab Americans are more visible in the area of cultural affairs such as films, music, arts, entertainment to name but a few. • Both the government and Arab-American groups such as ADC have explored and developed important new tools of com- municaon and cooperaon in 2003-2007. 4 | ADC-RESEARCH INSTITUTE TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 7 SECTION I: HATE CRIMES AND DISCRIMINATION 10 1-Violent Hate Crimes 11 2-Airline Discrimination 13 3-Customs and Border Protection 18 4-Department of Homeland Security - Watch List 20 5-Preventative Detention by Pretext 23 6-Immigration Discrimination 26 A-National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) 26 B-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Abuses 27 7-Detainee/Prisoner Abuse 28 8-State and Local Police Misconduct 29 9-Federal Law Enforcement Agency Misconduct 30 10-Naturalization and Green Card Delays 32 11-Employment Discrimination 34 A-Public Sector Employment Discrimination 34 B-Private Sector Employment Discrimination 35 12-Threats and Hate Speech 38 ADC-RESEARCH INSTITUTE | 5 REPORT ON HATE CRIMES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ARAB AMERICANS: 2003-2007 SECTION II: CIVIL LIBERTIES CONCERNS 39 1-“Homegrown Terrorist Threat” 39 2-Reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act/Death of Civil Liberties Restoration Acto (CLRA) 40 3-REAL ID Act 41 4-The End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) 41 5-Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA) 42 6-The Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act (CLEAR Act) 42 7-Comprehensive Immigration Reform 43 8-Secret Evidence Amendments to Immigration Reform Debate 44 9-The Stop Terrorist Entry Program Act (STEP Act) 44 10-Congressional Activity on Warrantless Wiretapping 45 SECTION III: DISCRIMINATION AND BIAS IN PRIMARY AND 47 SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 1-Physical Violence and Threats 52 2-Bias and Harassment 54 3-Political Bias and Bias in Curriculum 58 SECTION IV: DISCRIMINATION AND POLITICAL HARASSMENT CAMPAIGNS 63 IN HIGHER EDUCATION SECTION V: DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA 75 1-A Long History of Negative Stereotyping in the Entertainment Industry 76 2-How Hollywood Changed After 9/11 77 3-How and Why defamation is Actually Getting Worse 81 4-Defamation in Commentary and the News Media 81 5-Profiles of the Worst Offenders 84 6-Bigoted Statements by Members of Congress 92 SECTION VI: COMMUNICATION AND COOPERATION BETWEEN 95 ARABAMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES SECTION VII: RECOMMENDATIONS 99 6 | ADC-RESEARCH INSTITUTE INTRODUCTION When a tiny handful of fanatics launched terrorist attacks and the backlash directed against them became evident, against our country on September 11, 2001, few large com- Arab Americans were forced to deal with the national munities were more profoundly affected than the Arab tragedy on multiple registers. Americans. As the twin towers in New York collapsed in on themselves one after the other, it seemed that several First, they shared the shock and outrage of their fellow citi- decades of slow, painstaking and woefully incomplete polit- zens regarding the largest mass murder in American history. ical and social organizing among Arab Americans were crum- bling along with them. Many of the gains made in the Second, they had to face a new relationship with their fel- previous quarter century of activism