1-Identify and describe the parallels you see between the historical treatment of

these groups in early American History and the treatment of Muslims in America today.

The United States of America was founded based on certain rules and laws that

we will call Amendments. The first of those amendments contains the Freedom of

Religion. According to what can be read in the textbook, the American history struggled

to make the people respect the freedom of religion. Now it is the turn of Muslims in

America to go through the misery of discrimination, stereotypes, racism and prejudice.

In fact, just as Anti-Semitism in the early history as mentioned in the textbook, were

Jews were seen, first as a “race”, then as stereotypes of greedy, selfish and manipulating

(Koppelman, 2014), Muslims in America are labeled as terrorists, oppressors, and also

seen as a race in where every person coming from the Middle East, North Africa or other

parts of Central Asia is considered a Muslim, without distinction of nationality, or

origin. Violence and Racial slurs again Islam in America reached an all-time high,

especially after September 11. For a start, it is not uncommon to be victim of such

bigotry for being a Muslim in America. Incidents such as kicking a family out of a plane

because they are Muslims, or Assaulting a Muslim Woman are becoming more and more

frequent. I will put the references at the end of this post. I have decided to stop here

because of my religion and avoid any bias further.

2-Using the information in Chapter 6, explain some of the conflicts that arise

between upholding religious freedom and the tactics used to control religious groups.

History is full of references that were either good or bad for religious groups and

even though violence was most of the time present and conflicts were either resolved or
postponed, it is not a surprise for any of us to see or witness discrimination and hate.

However, thanks to the legal system in the United States, religious segregation has

always been taken care of one way or another. For example, in the table 6.1 in the

textbook, we can see the court ruling on Religions in Public schools, mainly problem

fixed. Today, hate is everywhere, in the heart of the bigot or the religious bully. One

resolution solution for the religious problem in America is the Immigration and

Nationality Act, signed by US President Lyndon Johnson (Koppelman, 2014) which

opened the “gates” of America to any person regardless of color, race or religion.

Another solution is the example of “Watchful Eyes”, as described by Koppelman to be a

group destined to minimize or prevent anti-Muslim violence.

References:

[UPDATE] Video: Muslim Woman Attacked By Trump Supporter In Chevy Chase.

(2016). DCist. Retrieved 22 July 2016, from

http://dcist.com/2016/05/police_are_searching_for_a_suspect.php

Arab-American family kicked off flight for 'safety of flight issue'. (2016). WDIV.

Retrieved 22 July 2016, from http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/arab-american-

family-kicked-off-flight-for-safety-of-flight-issue

FBI investigating anti-Muslim threats against Dearborn. (2016). Detroit Free Press.

Retrieved 22 July 2016, from

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2015/11/17/fbi-anti-muslim-

threats-dearborn/75951472/