Logic surmises that the perpetrators of a hate crime would be the ones blamed for it. However, after an attack in Germany on Jewish citizens by members of a far right group, the blame shifted from the attackers to Muslim refugees (BBC News). Xenophobia is the irrational fear of things perceived as foreign or alien. Though attaching the suffix “phobia” to anything seems to dramatize its meaning, there is no exaggeration in this diagnosis for North American society. Since 2016, hate crimes have risen at an alarming rate, most notably religious hate crimes targeting Jews and Muslims; slanderous and fear-mongering rhetoric, specifically regarding Jews, Muslims, and immigrants, has also increased in the past two years (FBI). American society …show more content…
For example, Muslims are constantly accused of crimes that are unspeakable to them, just like most people. Muslim men are assumed to beat their wives and Muslim women are assumed to be abused (Feldman). This comes from the lack of knowledge regarding the cultural and religious significance of women wearing head coverings. If people were educated as to the actual reason for women wearing the hijab as well as it being a personal choice in most cases rather than a form of oppression, there would not be cases of women being attacked for covering their heads mere hours after the 2016 Presidential Election (Sakuma). There would not be increasing examples of women being discriminated against because of their religious choices. By educating children on basic religious practices, they will grow up being aware of religions that do not resemble their own, and thus will be less susceptible to stereotypes, promoting respect between cultural …show more content…
In the recent years, Mosques have been repeatedly burned down, Synagogues threatened with bombs, African-America men shot and killed because a police officer didn’t expect to see them in a specific neighborhood (Feldman), the list continues like this. Often, the perpetrators of these crimes truly believe that they are doing good. They believe that the people they are persecuting are less than human, and the American education system allows this. In my high school, we were taught that the United States is the best country in the world and by comparison, everywhere else is poor, barbaric, and dangerous. When we studied world cultures, we spent the majority of the semester on Europe and only briefly touched upon Eastern culture. The little we learned about Islam was either stereotypical and dramatized, or dangerously incorrect. I will never forget arguing with my teacher that firstly, not all Arabs are Muslim, not all Muslims are Arabs, and that not all Arabs or Muslims should be treated as dangerous because of terrorism, just like all caucasian Americans should not be considered bigoted because of the actions of