Muslims America Hate the Siege-DePaul-Fall1998

8/8/2019 Muslims America Hate the Siege-DePaul-Fall1998

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Final PaperNovember 10, 1998

This autumn another big budget Hollywood thriller wasreleased. The Siege is a socially and politically charged filmabout the possibility of terrorist bombings on u . s . soil and themass hysteria it can create.

Directed by Edward Zwick, the story is set in Brooklyn wherelarge numbers of Arab immigrants and Arab-Americans reside. The"campaign of terror begins"l when a MTA bus full of adults istaken out by a suicide bombing. An FBI task force, led byAnthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington), an African-AmericanChristian, and Frank Haddad, an Arab-American Muslim,investigates. They are successful in finding and eradicatingsome of the "cells" of terrorism. The CIA becomes involved inthe form of operative Elise Kraft (Annette Benning). Slowly,information is divulged that the United States government trainedterrorists in the Middle East during the Gulf War.

Meanwhile, the terrorism continues. A Broadway show is hit.An elementary school is targeted.

"Images of a Muslim washing his hands before prayer, ashundred of millions of Muslims do everyday, precede [sic] acts of

1 Synopsis. The Siege [official movie web site] (Fox); available fromhttp://www.thesiege.com/htmls/movie_info2.html; Internet; accessed 2 November1998.


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terror in the film."2 The connection between the Islamic faithand terrorism is continually reinforced in the minds of theAmerican movie viewer.

Once the NYC FBI headquarters is leveled by a van filledwith explosives, the federal government decides to declaremartial law in the city. With the aid of the Army, led byGeneral Devereaux (Bruce Willis), and the INS3, Brooklyn iscordoned off. All Arab men, regardless of faith or citizenshipare rounded up and detained in Giants Stadium. The audiencehears voice-overs from news reports and talk shows regarding theincrease in hate crimes and racist comments.

The round-up is "justified" by the single mention of how theJapanese-(American)s were interred during World War II within ourown borders. One Arab-American movie viewer could not forget"the images of Arabs rounded up by the Army and held behindbarbed wire fences. 'That football field where they put them, itwas just horrible. [Sic] It was just like a Nazi camp."4

2 Maksoud, Hala, President of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee."Open Letter to Mr. Edward Zwick." ADC; available fromhttp://www.adc.org/ActionAlerts/1998/30b-oct-98.htm; accessed 9 November 1998.3 Plans were drafted in 1987 by the INS detailing "an INS response to ahypothetical order by the President or State Dept. To intern a 'target group'of several thousand people in a detention facility in Louisiana. The 'targetgroup' referred to people belonging to particular nationalities 'known tosupport terrorism'. The INS reportedly listed several Muslim and Arabcountries as fitting that definition." As cited from the Houston Chronicle,(24 February 1991) in "New Hollywood Film 'The Siege' Needs ProactiveCommunity Response." CAIR [http://www.cair-net.orgJ accessed 9 November 1998;http://www.cadvision.com/ybernier/siege.htm; Internet.4 Franklin, Stephen. "A family feels under siege." Chicago Tribune, 15November 1998, sec. 2, pp. 1 & 10.


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Fear of the Arabs and Muslims is reinforced by mention ofthe jihad and that "they" call the United States: the devil.Supposedly, Arab men are convinced to become suicide bombers bybeing told that if they die for Allah, they will be promised 70virgins in paradise. When the bombers' bodies are recovered,they were found to be wearing the Islamic funeral "shirt" used inburial.

During the period of martial law, Constitutional questionsarise. Rights to life and liberty are being deprived to theArab-Americans. At what point does the protection of thecountry's citizens as a whole conflict with the protection of therights of the individual as guaranteed by the Constitution?5 Allof the government employees fighting the "war" have taken thesame oath: "To support and defend the Constitution." But howeach upholds the oath are quite different indeed. The FBI andCIA wish to find the culprits in the least invasive way possible.While the General violates the rights of a whole ethnic group inorder to catch the few perpetrators.

"'In the end, you say, wow, the Constitution wins. But whenyou are outside, walking away, what gets you? The bombs. Thepeople dying. The viciousness of these people. ,"6

5 Ibid .. Synopsis (paraphrase).6 Shillo, Ibrahim. As quoted in Franklin, idem.


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4Justice does prevail. but at what cost? The media, with the

aid of the federal government's actions, have reinforced in theimpressionable minds of Americans that Islam and Arabs are evil."To Westerners and Americans, 'Islam' represents a resurgentatavism, which suggests not only the threat of a return to theMiddle Ages, but the destruction of what is regularly referred toas the democratic order in the Western World.? Yes, Arab-Americans as citizens of the USA are guaranteed the same rightsunder the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution. The naturalizedeven took an oath regarding the Constitution and the support ofthe U.S.

However. whether or not those rights are respected in thesocial space are a different story entirely. What is even worseis that the average WASP American may not be able to tell thedifference between a Latino. an Italian. a Greek and an Arab.Unless an outer symbol is worn. such as a certain style of dressor an emblem like the Crucifix or Star of David, a person has noway of knowing whether an Arab is a practicing Muslim, aChristian or a Jew.

Throughout the history of the U.S., there has always been at

least one group, ethnic. religious or otherwise which has beenconsidered unequal. Slavery was permitted. although much

7 Said. Edward W. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine HowWe See the Rest of the World. Revised ed. (New York: Vintage. 1997) 55.


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5debated. until the end of the Civil War. Even after that,Negroes were not considered full citizens. Women of any colorwere not given suffrage until 1920. German-(American)s wereregarded with World War II

of Japanese-(American)s. Impoverished citizensaw themay not feel that they enjoy the same rights as their middle orupper class neighbors.

"Whenever equality becomes a mundane fact initself. . then there is one chance in a hundred thatit will be recognized simply as a working principle ofa political organization in which otherwise unequalpeople have equal rights; there are ninety-nine chancesthat it will be mistaken for an innate quality of everyindividual. who is 'normal' if he is like everybodyelse and 'abnormal' if he happens to be different.This perversion of equality from a political into asocial concept is all the more dangerous when a societyleaves but little space for special groups andindividuals, for then their differences become all themore conspicuous.uB

Civil Rights legislation was recently augmented with hatecrime legislation. Hate crime laws are intended to prevent someof the social strikes against certain groups by other groups orindividuals. The laws' origin came out of the need to controlthe KKK and neo-Nazi activities in the South. Since churches andsynagogues were often targeted, the need was more to protect the

Judeo-Christian symbols of American life. In a 1985

8 Arendt. Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Newed. (New York: HBJ.1979) 54.


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6Congressional subcommittee debate, mosques were not mentioned.9

While laws were already in place to deal with the crimesagainst person and property themselves, government felt they didnot have enough 'ammunition' to deal with such a motive. Thus inthe late twentieth century the term 'hate crime' came into legalusage.

Arson, theft, vandalism, assault, rape, murderand threat that manifest prejudice based on race,religion, sexual orientation or ethnici ty is a newlydefined category of offenses with particular criminalpenalties attached, only recently distinguished fromsimilar acts based on other (unexamined)motivations ...0

One often hears in police and legal dramas the phrase'opportunity and motive'. Hate crime laws thus only create adifferent, even perhaps harsher, penalty guidelines for hate-based motives.

What does it take to move beyond these prejudices againstIslam and Arabs in general present in American society? Thefirst and obvious answer is education. Education is supposed toopen minds to new ideas and methods of thinking. However, eveneducation presents a problem.

A fundamental concept in the organization of American life

is the separation of church and state. After decades of courtbattles, religion has been almost completely expunged from the

9 Moore. Kathleen M. Al-Mughtaribun: American Law and the Transformation ofMuslim Life in the United States. (New York: SUNY. 1995) 108-109.10 Ibid., 110.


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7public school system. The teaching of morality is thus relegatedto the home. However, "Muslims believe that prayer and moralinstruction must be reiterated in schools, in order to provide asense of discipline, continuity. and cohesion in the lives ofchildren. nIl

Most Muslim-American communities have made up for this lackby holding weekend classes for the children ~n the Qu'ran.However. this does not help fight the prejudices in the publicspace. Schools with Muslims students are required by the FirstAmendment to allow for time and space for prayer. Jewishstudents are excused on their religious holidays. But the onlytime when all students are excused are on a Christian holiday.Christmas. The singling out of the Muslim students for prayertime and Jewish students conspicuous absence on certain days like

Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, only serve to point out theirdifferences. Rather than emphasizing the differences. theopportunity should be taken in the classroom for general culturaleducation. Since American society is pluralistic. tolerance ofthose differences rather than poking fun should be taught.

In the adult world. intolerance can manifest itself by anemployer refusing to allow time for the five daily prayers. Someof these prayers do occur during a normal nine to five work day.

11 McCloud. Aminah Beverly. African American Islam. (New York: Routledge.1995) 118.


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9understanding. I could not help but wonder what would happen ifa prejudiced individual happened upon such a scene. I shudder atthe grave possibilities.

The Siege has reopened old wounds of fighting prejudiceagainst Arab -(American) s on U.S. soil. "It sets you back [sic],but you are working toward a goal. You are not totally acceptedhere, and you have to walk the extra mile to show exactly who youare ...3 Such prejudices may even lead a family who have beenconsidered American for three generations to call themselvesMediterranean rather than Palestinian or Arab.14

While the movie is fiction, the publicized atrocities of thegenocide of Muslims in Croatia and the continued squabbling withIraqi leader Saddam Hussein, United States' "enemy number one",serve to reinforce the possibility that something like that couldhappen. The Siege could become reality. The ending tries toassure that it could not. As for fighting prejudices, the endingdoes not do enough to fight what has been portrayed in 95% of themovie.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) organized aprotest on the opening day of the film. Movie attendees werepresented with educational flyers and an invitation to an openhouse at a local mosque. I think a mistake was made by only

13 Shil1o.14 Franklin.


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10being present in quiet peaceful protest (as permitted by theFirst Amendment) only on the first day. I attending a showingtwo days later, but was not greeted by any Muslims or Arab-Americans.

I feel that as long as The Siege is in theaters, educativefliers need to be around. CArR and other interest groups need topetition Fox and Zwick to place an opening message in the videorelease which is imminent. Prejudice can only be fought witheducation. Screaming about the blasphemous and stereotypicalimages in The Siege is a small step but an important one.

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Muslims America Hate the Siege-DePaul-Fall1998