US Muslims find selves target of monitoring, abuse

Yet poll reveals satisfaction in life, home

August 31, 2011|By Hope Yen, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - More than half of Muslim-Americans in a new poll say government antiterrorism policies single them out for increased surveillance and monitoring, and many report increased cases of name-calling, threats, and harassment by airport security, law enforcement officers and others.

Still, most Muslim-Americans say they are satisfied with life in the United States and rate their communities highly.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive of the country’s Muslims, finds no signs of rising alienation or anger among Muslim-Americans despite recent US government concerns about homegrown Islamic terrorism and controversy over the building of mosques.

“This confirms what we’ve said all along: American Muslims are well integrated and happy, but with a kind of lingering sense of being besieged by growing anti-Muslim sentiment in our society,’’ said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group based in Washington, D.C.

Muslim extremists hijacked four passenger planes on Sept. 11, 2001, crashing them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field.

In all, 52 percent of Muslim-Americans surveyed said their group is singled out by government for terrorist surveillance. Almost as many - 43 percent - reported they had experienced harassment in the past year, according to the poll released yesterday. That share of people reporting harassment is up from 40 percent in 2007, the first time Pew polled Muslim-Americans.

Asked to identify in what ways they felt bias, about 28 percent said they had been treated or viewed with suspicion, while 22 percent said they were called offensive names. About 21 percent said they were singled out by airport security, while another 13 percent said they were targeted by other law enforcement officials. Roughly 6 percent said they had been physically threatened or attacked.

On the other hand, the share of Muslim-Americans who view US policies as “sincere’’ efforts to reduce international terrorism now surpasses those who view them as insincere - 43 percent to 41 percent. Four years ago, during the presidency of George W. Bush, far more viewed US anti-terrorism efforts as insincere - 55 percent to 26 percent.

The vast majority of Muslim-Americans - 79 percent - rate their communities as either “excellent’’ or “good’’ places to live, even among many who reported an act of vandalism against a mosque or a controversy over the building of an Islamic center in their neighborhoods.

They also are more likely to say they are satisfied with the direction of the country - 56 percent, up from 38 percent in 2007. That is in contrast to the general public, whose satisfaction has dropped to 23 percent.