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ABSTRACT
Using an analysis of U.S. government policies that have had high impacts on the personal safety and freedom of movement and expression of Arabs, Muslims, and others of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) origins living in or seeking to migrate to the US, this article argues that these policies mirror in significant ways a range of policies used currently and historically to police and control Black and brown bodies. Specifically, the article addresses three tactics shared across such policies: pre-emption, containment, and collective responsibility, and demonstrates how they are manifested in specific anti-terrorism and national security policies aimed at Arabs, Muslims, and others of SWANA origins, including Operation Boulder, the War on Terror, Special Registration, Countering Violent Extremism, and the Muslim Ban. The article also examines the outcomes of these policies in terms of actual convictions on terrorism charges (i.e. identifying terrorists) and finds limited results. It concludes that the alleged Muslim/Arab/SWANA domestic terror threat is in large part a social construction of the state. Finally, it argues that while US anti-terror policies are examined by most scholars outside of the lens of race, there is little reason to view them as exceptions to people of colour policing regimes.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. SWANA is an acronym for southwest Asia(ns) and north Africa(ns), a non-colonial designation of the geographic area commonly referred to as the “middle east” or the “middle east” and north Africa.
2. For a deep discussion of this scholarship and its relegation to the margins by scholars, see Cainkar, Vinson, and Jarmakani (Citation2022).
3. Manzoor-Khan (Citation2022) points out that the positives attributed to whites, such as democracy, economic growth, rule of law, and liberty, have been systematically denied to people of colour.
4. In this article, I focus on domestic policies, but the same case can be made for global policies.
5. Names on Department of Justice list of international terrorists uncovered in the US changed over time, from 93 persons “charged or convicted” in October 2001 to a list of 403 names of persons “convicted” in 2010 (including the initial 93), then in 2012, 119 of those names were changed to persons “identified” after 9/11 regardless of investigation or outcomes; in 2018 115 of those names were removed. Kurzman (Citation2020) provides the footnote text from the 2018 report explaining the dramatic change, which said in part “Individuals whose convictions arose from that initial terrorism investigation were included on prior versions of the chart regardless of whether investigators developed or identified evidence that the defendants had any connection to international terrorism.”.
6. As one of many cases, see for example, US v. Al Moayad, Mohammed Ali Hassan, et al.
8. Some declassified documents can be found at https://declassifiedboulder.wordpress.com.
9. Michael E. Rolince, former FBI special agent in charge of counterterrorism and Section Chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section in a speech delivered at the workshop “Muslim-Law Enforcement Partnership,” MPAC convention, Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif., December 17, 2005.
11. Palestine Legal: https://palestinelegal.org.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Louise Cainkar
Louise Cainkar is Professor of Sociology and Social Welfare and Justice at Marquette University and Director of its Peace Studies major and Arab and Muslim American Studies minor. Her recent books include Sajjilu Arab American: A Reader in SWANA Studies (2022, co-edited with Pauline Homsi Vinson and Amira Jarmakani) and Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal (2021, co-edited with Michael Suleiman and Suad Joseph), both published by Syracuse University Press. Both her 2009 book, Homeland Insecurity: The Arab American and Muslim American Experience after 9/11 (Russell Sage Foundation) and Arab American Women were honored as Outstanding Adult Non-Fiction by the Arab American National Museum. Dr Cainkar has also published more than forty peer-reviewed scholarly articles and book chapters, with 30,000 downloads across 142 countries. She is on the editorial board of the Review of Middle East Studies and serves on the American Sociological Association’s Committee on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Discipline. Cainkar is Past President of the Arab American Studies Association and Board member and Treasurer of the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies. Dr. Cainkar is also engaged in community activism and has received Marquette University’s Community Engaged Teaching Award.