Letter to the Editor - Minnesota Daily

Stereotyping of Muslims
Link: http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/12/09/66536

In response to Adam Elrashidi’s Wednesday editorial cartoon, I thought it necessary to point out that the stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims is nothing new on TV and the big screen. Long before the horrendous attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, these people have been vilified in Hollywood blockbusters such as 1994’s “True Lies” and 1998’s “The Siege.”

However, what tells of a troubling shift, is that these stereotypes are no longer of the West’s view of a prototype Muslim: a brown-skinned male, aged 18-35, with a beard and Arabic accent. As we have witnessed over the past few months on Fox’s “24” and Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell” (which debuted just this past Sunday), is that now all Muslims are being targeted, not just Arabs. These shows, although politically corrected with public service announcements and lines by Muslim characters such as “These [terrorists] have nothing to do with my faith,” continue to try and convince the viewer that their friendly Muslim neighbor, regardless of race, color or ethnicity, may be a sleeper agent waiting to be activated. In stark opposition to our government’s claims that the War on Terror is not a war against Islam, our media’s portrayal of our newest enemy tells us otherwise.

These continual depictions of everyday Muslims as terrorists belies the true nature of our country’s more than 6 million American Muslims, and does an injustice to all who believe in true and just characterization of vulnerable communities through whatever form of media.

Mohamed H. Sabur
University alumnus
co-founder of The Qunoot Foundation