American Muslims face persecution
Although the US claims to be the biggest defender of religious freedom, it does not protect all American citizens' right to freedom of religion. After declaring independence in 1776, the US welcomed immigrants from all over the world due to labor shortage. But these people didn't enjoy the same freedom that the white people did.
Although US mainstream society pretended to be tolerant to Muslims, the administration saw the growing number of Muslims as a threat. So it implemented policies to restrict the size of this religious group. Even today, the American public, in general, has not fully accepted Muslims as fellow citizens, despite their population accounting for just less than 2 percent of the total.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muslims have been generally treated as dissidents by the US society, and continue to be discriminated against. Even the administration has implemented laws to restrict their freedom. For example, the USA Patriot Act requires internet companies to provide the government with users' information on a regular basis, prompting many to say such laws have legalized racial profiling and discrimination.
Besides, the clearinghouse for labor evaluation and research and the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System also restrict people's freedom, especially of Muslim immigrants and Arab groups. Some Muslim religious groups believe these policies are aimed at excluding them from the mainstream public.
As for US President Joe Biden, he may not have taken any overt steps to persecute Muslims, but there is enough evidence to suggest the already marginalized religious group is becoming the victim of Islamophobia, including discrimination in employment, and the target of hate crimes.
A report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and University of California, Berkeley, in 2016 named 74 groups that contribute in some ways to Islamophobia.
The primary purpose of 33 of those groups "is to promote prejudice against, or hatred of, Islam and Muslims". And the core group accumulated funds of up to $206 million between 2008 and 2013. Islamophobia is most commonly seen among conservatives and Republicans, who hold more negative views toward Muslims than Democrats.
The Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Racism a bolt on US democracy
By slandering other countries for their human rights records and playing down its own failure to protect human rights, the US has again revealed its hypocrisy on race-related issues.
Previous president Donald Trump's policy of separating children from their immigrant parents caught crossing the border illegally triggered public outrage across the country in 2018.
The same year, Trump reportedly told lawmakers during talks on an immigration deal. "Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They're shithole countries... We should have more people from Norway." By doing so, Trump revealed a hidden rule in US foreign policy: that the US considers other countries as "shitholes".
In 2020, The Washington Post's review of news stories since the 2016 presidential election found more than 300 incidents of school children being harassed by students or teachers using Trump's inflammatory rhetoric. At least three quarters of those victims were black, Hispanic or Muslim children.
The US has failed to deal with the fatal threat white supremacist and far-right groups pose to the country and its people. Instead, it has been focusing on investigating American Muslims, according to Michael German, a former FBI agent.
(Wang Yu, a researcher at the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.The views don't necessarily represent those of this platform.)
