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Brett Turner
Mary Martin
English 110
13 December 2015
The Impact Of Religious Discrimination On Stress
On TV Monday, December 7th, 2015, NBC 41 Action News talked of the stress Muslim
Americans are feeling. After the mass California shooting, Muslims are feeling unsafe in their
homes in America. Even Donald Trump spoke out about letting foreigners into our country, and
not knowing whether they love us, or want to kill us.
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims
entering the united states, until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on, a
campaign representatives said.
It has been learned that Trump is calling for surveillance of mosques. He also wants to
establish data bases for all Muslims living in the U.S. Not only does Donald Trump want to cease
the entry of all foreign Muslims into the United States, but he would also like to stop the reentry
of Americanized Muslims into the country after any travel abroad.
As far as limiting who can and cannot come into our country, Trumps demands violate
the Freedom of Movement under United States law. This is governed primarily by the Privileges
and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution. This Clause StatesThe Citizens of
each state shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of citizens in the several states. As
scary as the situation with ISIS is, how can we possibly take the constitutional right away,
especially to our own US citizen. This is a stress put on even our American Muslims, telling
them they can no longer visit their foreign relatives, and their relatives are not allowed to visit in

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our country. I am not saying the ISIS situation is something we should ignore, but discriminating
against a person based on their religious beliefs is not something the United States stands behind.
Although originally, aircraft travel was only accessible for the rich and privileged, it
became a widely used service for the average American family to travel. It was a fun, leisurely,
and affordable experience for most Americans. Airline security was laid back and friendly. Then
9/11 happened.Before 9/11, most Americans probably hadnt given a lot of thought to how we,
as a people, are viewed by the rest of the world. Of course, many of us were aware of the
negative image of the ugly American that developed as the power and prestige of the United
States grew after World War II. But nothing had prepared us for the idea that others hated the
United States so much theyd gladly die to do us damage. (DSouza 768)
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act was created two months after the attacks.
Before 9/11, security was left to private security companies. Each airport handled their own
security. With the new guidelines, only passengers with tickets could go through security. You
could no longer meet your family and friends at the gate, or escort them there for a loving
farewell. As fear of terrorism continued, other changes happened such as removing shoes and
banning liquids.
With tightened security, people are being targeted for the ethnicity of their name and
sometimes their destination or even origin of arrival. Take Hassan Shibly for example. He was
traveling with his wife and infant son in August 2010. He explains his experiences after traveling
back to the United States after visiting Jordan and traveling to Mecca.
He and his family were taken in for questioning and asked Are you part of any Islamic
tribe? Have you ever studied Islam full time? How many gods do you believe in? How many
prophets do you believe in? the agent at New Yorks JFK Airport asked, according to Shibly, 24,

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a Syrian-born Muslim American. At the end I guess (the agent) was trying to be nice he
said, Sorry, I hope you understand we just have to make sure nothing gets blown up, said
Shibly. These questions that this Muslim individual experienced show how intrusive and
unknowledgeable we are of other cultures and the comment itself was racist and enveloping of a
culture rather than looking at an individual.
Instances of this discrimination in our airport security system happens time and time
again. People are pulled out specifically for their name, destination, and or origin. Personal
experiences of this were written about in the essay Crossing Borders. Ghazaleh Krasinski gives
accounts of her own experiences traveling in and out of the United States, dealing with this
discrimination. For Ghazaleh, this was a normal trip. She was traveling from Iran to New York
where she was planning to make a home with her American lover. As the exhausted, impatient
passengers funneled out to the passport checkpoint, eager to leave, her and a Sudanese man were
pulled to the side and escorted to a special place: a room as small as a chicken coop(Krasinski
1)
Krasinski was being discriminated against for being from another country. I realized that
the small brown booklet I was holding was the source of the problem for me. The booklet was
my identification document and my permission to enter the new country. The problem was
summed up by a large golden word on the cover: IRAN. When this realization hit her, she
wanted to let the American interrogating her know that she hated the ruling regime of Iran more
than he did. She wanted to talk of the violence she had seen, the fact there was no freedom of
speech, the attacks on peaceful demonstrations. She wanted to tell him he had no right to treat
her as a terrorist just because she was a Muslim from Iran. After all her plan was to make a
peaceful home with the man she loved in America. She meant no harm.

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America is known throughout the world as a land of freedom and justice, but that night
was the beginning of me knowing America in a different way. (Krasinski 1) For her it was a
shock to come to the realization and understanding that America can be a place that offers less
freedom and justice for some more than for others. Ghazaleh is a Muslim, a woman of color,
who chooses to worship differently than most Americans. If not for these diverse qualities, would
she have been singled out? Would she have been pulled aside and placed in a room for
questioning? I honestly don't believe she would be. The simple fact that these events occurred,
show that discrimination does exist.
While it is clear that America should be proud of the freedoms we offer our citizens
through our laws and Constitution, it is clear that some groups continue to feel the pressure of
discrimination. While we have certainly come a long way, recent acts justify for some the act of
discrimination. I know we are hated by a strong and deadly group of Islamics/Muslims. The
events of September 11, 2001, came as a shock to most Americans. As a nation, we were stunned
by the violence of the assaults on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and
appalled by the senseless loss of life. But what confused so many Americans was the fact that
we, as a nation, could inspire the kind of insane rage that motivated our attackers. (Colombo
757)
Unfortunately it is true. We are hated. We are being attacked. These facts can not give us
the pass to persecute and judge our Muslim citizens and their loved ones who want to visit. We
have to remember there are immigrants who love us, and have come to our country for the
freedom and opportunity we are know to provide.
Works Cited
VILLEMEZ, JASON. "9/11 to Now: Ways We Have Changed." PBS. PBS. Web. 15 Dec. 2015

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Freedom of Movement under United States Law. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
Krasinski, Ghazaleh. "Crossing Borders." Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
Haydar, Maysan. "Veiled Intentions: Dont Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering." H I S T O R I
O G R A P H Y R E A D I N G S. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
Huus, Kari. "Muslim Travelers Say They're Still Saddled with 9/11 Baggage."
TODAY.com. 9 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2015
"Donald Trump: Ban All Muslim Travel to U.S. - CNNPolitics.com." CNN. Cable News
Network. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
DSouza, Dinesh. America the Beautiful: What Were Fighting For.
Colombo, Gary. Land of Liberty: The Myth of Freedom In a New World Order.