Terrorism. What does that even mean in America? The Webster Dictionary definition is: “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.” However, in the United States, an act of terror isn’t just any event committed to inflict fear upon a population. It’s a word used to associate destruction with race.
After the 9/11 attacks in New York City, the United States started to implement security measures such as the Patriot Act, to avoid another one from happening. This War on Terrorism involved the U.S. Middle East more than it already was, specifically against a Radical Islamic group known as Al Qaeda. Since the Twin Tower bombings was conducted by an extremist Islamic sector, the word terrorism has been conditioned to only be associated with people of the Middle East. Americans automatically stereotype Muslims as future terrorists because of a notion of fear that arose from 2001. Now, the question is: who instilled this word as an adjective to describe a religious community?
Plain and simple: the American Media.
In the light of recent terror attacks, I took it upon myself to read multiple articles from different United States news reports to find the same pattern. Whenever there was an attack by a person associated with Islam, the headline always included the word “terrorist”. However, recently there have been two attacks inside American communities where more people were killed and/or wounded than in recent radical Islamic attacks. When I looked at articles about these two events (the mass shooting in Las Vegas, and the Sutherland Church shooting), the titles never included the word terrorist. The reason? Because the people who conducted these acts were white.
The media restrains form labeling white people as terrorists even when the acts they commit are more damaging than the radical assaults perpetrated by people associated with ISIS or Al Qaeda. However, since the United States is a country where racism is deeply built into its foundation and the existence of “white privilege” is ignored, the media only uses terrorists as a word meant to describe minority felons. I am not justifying the acts done by radical Islamic groups, but I believe that terrorism should be a term used to describe acts done by ALL who try to instill fear into our communities. It is time to stop teaching our youth and population that only foreign radicals are capable of terrorism, when the largest mass shooting in America was committed by a white, Christian, gun fanatic. The media must use terrorism as a universal word in order to create equality and disassociate the term with an entire ethnicity and religion.
Islam itself does not instill violence onto its followers. Like with any ideology, radicalism and extremism is dangerous. It does not pertain strictly to only Muslim beliefs. A lot of Americans, however, do not comprehend this and how can they? Whenever they turn on the TV, they read that a Muslim committed a terrorist attack. Then when they hear news about American mass murderers, they read a history of violent history and label these criminals as “mentally unstable.” The media does this to present the theory that these radical Americans are a rarity within the community and just a bad apple in the batch of the white demographic. It’s more effective to blame a foreign ethnicity and express fear towards a group that looks different, has different beliefs, and speaks a different language than it is to reveal the truth that there are problems within the country’s own population as well. This prejudice is unjust to minorities in the United States from the Middle East and other minorities as well.
It doesn’t end with the use of terrorism in the media, but it’s the constant labeling by American news corporations to stereotype all minorities. EVERYONE in America has traces of subtle racism reserved in their minds, let’s be honest. This isn’t anyone’s fault unless these people do not learn to stop associating certain words with race and grow above that. African Americans are associated with being thugs. When the word undocumented or illegal (a dehumanizing and incorrect political term) comes up, there is an association with the Hispanic community. These are social issues that can occur to everyone, not just certain races so when is the media going to stop projecting these terms upon specific ethnicities? Everyone has the potential to cause harm or make mistakes, so why do the media and politicians try to instate fear in Americans towards minorities. The worst part is that because of this constant judgement, minorities are terrorized every single day. African Americans have a higher probability of being pulled over by a police officer because of their label. Hispanics have to take precautions and always carry their legal papers because they are living in constant fear of being taken away from their homes (or does America not remember the crisis in Arizona and New Mexico from 2007-2009?). We feel at a constant disadvantage every day already, and why? Because the media manipulates to distort the way minorities are displayed in popular culture.
In order to end the War on Terrorism, the American culture needs to understand that the battle starts at home. For example, reforms on gun-control and safety are crucial steps towards progression when it comes to radicalist attacks. One cannot fix a problem until recognizing what it is, and right now, the United States need to focus on all aspects of chaos. We need to stop the cultural differentiation and restart a belief system of unity and peace. Once the media starts equally distributing correct terminology when reporting on such horrible incidents, then the populace will develop elaborately and knowledgeably enough to start focusing on the wellbeing of each person in the country. But we need to stop blaming a religion. We need to stop creating fear. It’s time to understand that we all live in this same planet under the same natural conditions. It’s time to work together and save each other instead of listening to manipulative techniques that spell out “self-preservation.”
“Terrorism: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.”
