Muslims in U.S. still living under Islamophobia decades after 9/11: U.S. experts

CAIRO, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- As 21 years have passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Muslim community in the United States is still suffering from continuous hate, bullying, discrimination and violence against them, U.S. experts said.

The 9/11 attacks ushered in a new era of hate crimes, racism, and xenophobia against Muslims, reported the Al-Jazeera English-language news channel on the 21st anniversary of the attacks, adding that hate crimes against Muslims in the United States skyrocketed immediately after September 11, 2001, and are still on an upward trend.

"Muslims continue to be the target of hate, bullying, and discrimination as a result of the stereotypes that were perpetuated by Islamophobes and the media in the years following the 9/11 attacks," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

He attributed the Islamophobia problem to the reason that the U.S. government needs a common "enemy" to blame.

A total of 62 percent of Muslims report feeling religion-based hostility and 65 percent felt disrespected by others, said Zahra Jamal, associate director of Rice University's Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance in Houston.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has a long history of "dehumanizing and marginalizing" ethnic and religious groups, including Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, and Asian Americans, the expert noted, urging the superpower to address the problem head-on.