Islamophobia After 9/11: How a fearmongering fringe movement exploited
the terror attacks to gain political power
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Booth Gunter and Caleb Kieffer | Read the full piece here
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Friend,
The recent withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and last
week's 20thanniversary of 9/11 reminded us all of how the
terrorist attacks changed our country in fundamental ways.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's Ann Beeson wrote last week
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of how the anti-Muslim backlash that followed 9/11 ushered in an era
of executive overreach and a broad range of government abuses -
such as racial profiling, warrantless wiretappings, illegal detentions
and secret deportations - perpetrated in the name of keeping our
country safe from terrorism.
But also arising from the ashes of 9/11 was a far-right anti-Muslim
movement
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fueled by bigotry and the supercharged nativist rhetoric that
followed the attacks. This movement was led by activists who portrayed
Muslims in general as potential terrorists and trafficked in dark
conspiracy theories about Islamist extremists secretly infiltrating
the government and the U.S. legal system under assault by Sharia law.
Ironically, a number of those anti-Muslim leaders were the ones who
later infiltrated the government as President Donald Trump welcomed
movement leaders into his orbit, appointed its staunchest allies
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to high-level national security and advisory positions and issued
executive orders to implement a Muslim travel ban.
Today, this movement - a well-funded, tight-knit network of
grassroots groups and policy-oriented organizations - has lost
its access to the White House. But even though it is diminished in
stature and sheer numbers, it remains a political force, particularly
in right-wing media and politics.
In fact, echoes of its fearmongering can be heard through the voices
of right-wing pundits like Tucker Carlson, who recently warned
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his Fox News audience about the supposed dangers of Afghan refugees
evacuated to the United States.
"We just learned ... that at least 100 of the refugees U.S.
military has flown out of Kabul - people we're told are
heroes - are in fact on terror watchlists," Carlson said.
"One man we evacuated apparently works for ISIS. Today, an
Afghan interpreter told Fox News that this kind of thing is happening
constantly."
READ MORE
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In solidarity,
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