Salem Witch Trials vs. Persecution of Muslim-Americans
...re tried, convicted, and condemned to death. All five of them were executed on July 19, 1692. (162) “The witch trial era lasted less than a year.” (163) The first arrests were made in March 1692 and the final hanging took place September 22, 1692 with the hanging of eight accused witches. (163) “Fewer than fifty executions took place in the American colonies during the seventeenth century.” (164) These executions and arrests of innocent people occurred because of a few girls being bored, and causing trouble. At the same time, it was not just their fault. If the adults of the society were not so afraid of things that were different from that which they were used to, then the would not have been so swayed by the girls mischievous tales. They probably would have also been able to tell that the girls were making it up as they went along. The American population of today likes to consider themselves open-minded, unlike those of seventeenth century Salem. But there are still stereotypes, and biases which Americans put on certain races and religions. Since September 11, 2001, Americans have put up their guard and over-scrutinized those who look to be of middle eastern descent. The first recorded instance of persecution of religion after September 11, 2001, took place October 15, 2001, in Manchester, New Hampshire. The lady and her daughter were taken to court by their neighbor, who was Muslim, and a restraining order was issued against them October 17, 2001. The trial took place December 20, 2001. (Grossmith) This is a perfect example of stereotyping. Just because the lady was Muslim, her neighbors treated her like she was a terrorist and a threat to their security and lively hood. The second civil rights complaint related to harassment of a person of the Muslim religion since September 11, took place in Arlington, Massachusetts. On September 29, 2001, an Arlington man was accused of physically and verbally threatening a Belmont store owner and her nephew because he believed that they were Muslims. They were both Greek, and when they tried to take down the man’s license plate number he tried to run them over. The hearing was set for November 19, 2001. (The Boston Globe) He harassed these people, and treated them like terrorists without a shred of evidence. He did not even know their ethnicity. He just knew that they were not white and had the possibility of being of Arab descent, in his mind. The director of research at the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia, Louay M. Safi, had his establishment searched and did not complain about the tactics. He stated that his center of study had no ties to terrorists and that he believed that the establishment was a target strictly because it supported the religion of Islam. “This has undermined the effect of Bush saying that Muslims are peaceful,” Mr. Safi said. “This is really a campaign against Islam.” (Kahn) I believe that Mr. Safi is completely correct. Do you think that the government would have searched the International Institute of Christian Thought if it existed? The search for terrorism in the United States has become more about religion, than searching for those involved in the terrorism. A Muslim man was fired on January 3, 2002, for allegedly taking to long to complete his security rounds. Yet no action had been taken against at least four other security guards who had taken as long or longer to complete their rounds. (Murphy) After the September 11 terrorist attacks, many people were scared and people in the position to fire people fired them just because of their religion and ethnic background. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 628 complaints between September 11, 2001, and September 10, 2003, alleging backlash because of religion or national origin. “That amount is up from 323 the previous year.” (Murphy) An example of the innocent being persecuted is the account of an Oregon man who was imprisoned for t...