Whiteness and Comparative Racialization
Racialization is a social construct that separates groups of people into particular racial groups, creating a power dynamic in which certain groups, the white majority in the context of the United States, benefit from a system at the expense of minority groups. The racialization of modern day minority groups has been an ongoing practice that can be seen in history as far back as the spread of European colonization. Racialization has meant that certain “races” of people are linked to certain negative behaviors. Examples of this included both the supposed link between terrorism and Muslims as well as the link between African Americans and crime. As white people predominantly hold power in nearly all aspects of society, the racialization of minority groups effects how they are treated, particularly by white people.
Following 9/11, the United States launched a “War on Terror,” increasingly putting Muslim communities in the spotlight and associating them with terrorist activities. Over the past two decades, the War on Terror has been used as an excuse to crack down on Muslim immigrants in America, further geopolitical dominance, and refashion the nation as a world hegemon. In addition, the War on Terror is also the reason Muslims in America are subjected to increased searches in airports and government sanctioned community surveillance. Unjust targeting for having Muslim markers such as headscarves and appearing to be from the Middle East is also common in American society. For example, in the article “Citizens and Suspects: Race, Gender, and the making of American Muslim citizenship” by University of Michigan Professor Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, a young Pakistani woman describes the time she was followed by a white man to a Burger King drive thru where he told her “take that towel off, you don't belong in this country”. This incident represents a common refrain in which Muslim women need to be saved and that their headscarves represent a denial of a woman’s basic rights. At the same time, Muslim women are rejected from American society due to them being marked as foreign because they aren’t white.
Whiteness affects everyone, including prisoners. With the “War on Drugs” and “War on Crime” disproportionately affecting minority groups and particularly African Americans. In addition to being associated with drugs and crime, African American Muslims are also seen as threats to national security. One historical example of this was the mid-twentieth century FBI manual titled “The Muslim Cult of Islam.” The manual detailed what they claimed to know about Islam and African American Muslims despite not having an education on race and African American culture. Along with an increase in violence against African American Muslims, the manual was part of COINTELPRO, which targeted groups like the Nation of Islam for illegal detentions and imprisonment, psychological warfare, infiltration, the disruption of activist activity and other forms of political repression.
There are also situations where people are more accepted because they fall on the borders of whiteness. One such example is Iranian Americans. There are many situations where they are deemed “white” but still not treated white by those around them. One example is in the case 'Pourghoraishi vs Flying J, inc.,' in which Ahmad Pourghoraishi was forbidden from using the restroom at a fuel station by the manager, due to the color of his skin. Pourghoraishi’s refusal to leave the premise shortly prompted his arrest and he soon filed a claim against the gas station manager for discriminating against him. Even though as an Iranian American he was legally classified as white on the federal level, the judge deemed his national ancestry an acceptable passage to claim a non-white identity. Pourghoraishi’s is just one case https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1065055.htmlthat exemplifies the spectrum of race and whiteness, and how comparative racialization influences the daily life of those that cannot easily claim a white identity.
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Rana: Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in the South Asian Diaspora
Johnson: African American Religions, 1500-2000: Colonialism, Democracy, and Freedom
Khabeer: F*ck Tha Police: A Rumination on Black Life and Death
Daulatzai: Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America
Khabeer: Citizens and Suspects: Race, Gender, and the making of American Muslim citizenship
Hammer: (Muslim) Women’s Bodies, Islamophobia, and American Politics
NAACP: Criminal Justice Fact Sheet
FBI COINTELPRO: The U.S. Government’s War Against Dissent
Parvini and Simani: Are Arabs and Iranians white? Census says yes, but many disagree