Islamaphobia in the U.S.

"Islamphobia" isn't anything new. It isn't a recent trend among Americans or Westerners. But, since September 11th and both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, fear of and dislike of anything having to do with Islam or Muslims is everywhere. We have branded a whole population, a whole religious group, that is in fact bigger in number than Christianity, as terrorists wanting to destroy our American way of life. While I am not Muslim or Arab, I feel it is ignorant to assume all Muslim people hate America and want nothing more than to kill us. The Muslim population worldwide is 1.57 billion! Yet, roughly 20% of them are Arab. With racial profiling sanctioned by the PATRIOT ACT and American's over all fear of another terror attack, not to mention politicians spewing their rhetoric and thoughtless generalizations and speeches, the Muslim population here in the U.S. has encountered extreme hatred, intolerance, and has seen their civil liberties diminished. Unfortunately, it is common to want someone blame. But blaming all Muslims and demonizing them isn't the answer. Defacing mosques, homes of Muslim families, and Muslim owned places of business have been all too common.

Of course I love my country. Do I want to see anymore fellow Americans die because of terror related attacks? No, of course not! But it's about time we stop whispering when we see a Muslim woman in public wearing a burka or a Muslim man on an airplane. It's ignorant and hateful. It was not ordinary or traditional followers of Islam that plotted against America. It was radicalized Muslims, if one can even call them Muslims, who attacked America. The population of radicalized Muslims, those who vehemently despise America and Western culture, those who would give their own life in order to take the life of an American, is small in comparison to the rest of Muslims. A statistic recently released by the Department of Homeland Security detailed that less than 2% of all Muslims in America become radicalized out of a total population of 2-5 million. Our fear of Muslims isn't supported by numbers but, only by false assumptions and ignorance.