Press Room

AAI in the News

Arab Americans Feel Discrimination

By Genaro C. Armas
Associated Press
Posted on Tuesday December 11, 2001

Federal authorities pledged Tuesday to boost efforts to counter workplace bias against Arab Americans and reduce the soaring number of discrimination complaints since the Sept. 11 attacks.

``From the perspective of those unfortunate Muslim Americans who have been victims of employment discrimination, their American dream has turned into a nightmare,’’ Arshad Majid, of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers, said at a hearing of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

There were 157 complaints of religious-based discrimination filed by Muslims between Sept. 11 and Nov. 28 this year, the EEOC reported Tuesday. That was up from 64 during the same period last year.

The EEOC received so many complaints that it put a new code into its national database to track complaints filed by people who considered acts of alleged discrimination to be backlash from the terror attacks. Between Sept. 11 and Dec. 6, 166 such complaints have been filed.

Those allegations were filed by employees or job applicants who are, or are perceived to be, Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian or Sikh, the EEOC said.

And, there are probably more incidents left unreported because of mixed
messages Americans are getting from the federal government, said Jean
AbiNader, managing director of the Arab American Institute.

While agencies like the EEOC encourage people to file discrimination
complaints, some Arab Americans fear they may be wrongly caught in the government’s dragnet of terrorism suspects, AbiNader said.

``The Commission is operating with one hand tied behind its back,’’ he said.

Advocacy groups told the commission of instances in which people were fired because they wore a turban at work, or because they did not speak English while having a phone conversation with a relative.

In other cases, employees were let go or reprimanded after being questioned by law enforcement officials.

Most of those people were cleared of wrongdoing, proof that the police and federal authorities should make an extra effort to publicly exonerate them, Majid said.

The commission said it has coordinated with other federal agencies in taking more measures to prevent and address workplace discrimination connected with the attacks.

EEOC chairwoman Cari Dominguez pledged to step up the awareness campaign.

``The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 struck at the heart of the American
workplace, she said. ``We need to ensure that victims come forward to report these unlawful acts’’ of discrimination.

The Census 2000 Supplementary Survey estimated there were about 1.2 million Americans of Arab ancestry.

The Census Bureau does not ask about religion. AbiNader said about 65 percent of Arab Americans were Christian.