Similarities of Racism Against German Americans and Islamic Americans
During the era of World War I and World War II, German Americans were attacked simply because of their heritage. Although they may have had nothing to do with the war, or even sited with Germany at all or as a whole, they were still targeted and prosecuted and, as I stated before, attacked. Islamic and Arab Americans faced the very same problems after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, simply because of their religion, or even their background or appearance.
Some of the similarities between the two included the attitudes against them. As it was during the World Wars, where Germans were automatically assumed to be Nazis just because they identified as German, after the 9/11 attacks, Arab and Islamic America were automatically assumed to be terrorists. It seemed that, in both cases, it was a generally accepted and believed idea, that heritage and ethnicity drove everything about a person as an individual, whereas that was not the truth at all. Even more than decades later, German Americans are still considered “Nazis” and Muslim Americans are still addressed as “Terrorists.” Universal blame for the terrorist attacks and for the World Wars was placed on all those who identified as either of these groups.
Not only were both judged as such, and faced insults and offensive slurs and everything in between, but they were also incredibly feared and banned from entering certain areas such as businesses, etc. German heritage was deleted all together from the Untied States, which certainly had an affect on those that had said German heritage, but Islamic heritage as well. Both of which had to be hidden all together from public eye to be saved from prosecution. Since both were feared, both were placed on surveillance, etc, and were more likely to be the subject of investigation for anything as minor from common police affairs to large governmental ones. Civil rights were more or less ignored or deleted for both of these groups in both time periods.
Although physical
Some of the similarities between the two included the attitudes against them. As it was during the World Wars, where Germans were automatically assumed to be Nazis just because they identified as German, after the 9/11 attacks, Arab and Islamic America were automatically assumed to be terrorists. It seemed that, in both cases, it was a generally accepted and believed idea, that heritage and ethnicity drove everything about a person as an individual, whereas that was not the truth at all. Even more than decades later, German Americans are still considered “Nazis” and Muslim Americans are still addressed as “Terrorists.” Universal blame for the terrorist attacks and for the World Wars was placed on all those who identified as either of these groups.
Not only were both judged as such, and faced insults and offensive slurs and everything in between, but they were also incredibly feared and banned from entering certain areas such as businesses, etc. German heritage was deleted all together from the Untied States, which certainly had an affect on those that had said German heritage, but Islamic heritage as well. Both of which had to be hidden all together from public eye to be saved from prosecution. Since both were feared, both were placed on surveillance, etc, and were more likely to be the subject of investigation for anything as minor from common police affairs to large governmental ones. Civil rights were more or less ignored or deleted for both of these groups in both time periods.
Although physical