Bias threatens Muslim careers
Harassment against Middle Eastern groups has doubled
since Sept. 11, 2001
By Momo Chang, STAFF WRITER

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3042135

A Muslim engineer who works at a leading technology
company is called a terrorist by his co-workers and
told that on Halloween he should dress as one.

A teacher at a vocational college tells a Muslim
student who wears a hijab, or head scarf, that she is
not allowed to wear it, and if she does no American
will hire her.

A pilot tells a Muslim employee at an airline company
he looks like a terrorist.

These are all accounts of workplace harassment
documented by the Council on American-Islamic
Relations in California. The report shows that 18
percent of harassment incidents occur at the
workplace, second only to occurrences at government
agencies at 19 percent, many of which are also
employment-related cases.

According to the most recent U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission report, charges of
discrimination against Muslims — or those perceived to
be Muslim, such as South Asians — has doubled
nationwide from 1,100 to 2,168 since Sept. 11, 2001,
given a similar time span.

Jennifer, whose name has been changed because she
fears retaliation at work, recalls her experience in
the months after 9/11.

"When my mom and I walked by our co-workers, they
started chanting, 'terrorist, terrorist,'" she says.

She was 18 at the time and working the graveyard shift
with her mom at a Fremont-based computer company. She
had been in the country two years, taking college
courses and working part-time jobs.

She said her co-workers also called her "bin Laden's
daughter" and her mother "bin Laden's wife." When she
had henna painted on her hand — a symbol of
celebration — during Eid, one co-worker asked, "Is
that bin Laden's blood?" She said even if her
co-workers were joking, she asked them repeatedly to
stop making comments, but they continued. She quit her
job soon after.

The most common types of employment discrimination
against Muslims include name-calling, job termination
and denial of religious wear or other accommodations
for religious practices, said Shirin Sinnar, attorney
at San Francisco-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil
Rights.

Jennifer also recalls another incident, months after
9/11. She had interviewed at a bank in Fremont twice
over the phone, and was told to come in person to sign
her paperwork. She has a typical American-sounding
name — and wears a hijab.

When she arrived, she was asked several times by the
manager, "Are you Jennifer? Are you the one I spoke to
on the phone?"

The manager then told her she would give her a call.
Two weeks later, Jennifer received a letter in the
mail stating they had hired someone else. She is sure
it's because of her head scarf, though it's difficult
to prove.

Some groups affected by 9/11 discrimination are not
Muslim, but perceived to be "terrorists" because of
visible difference in dress. Many Sikh men have faced
discrimination because they wear turbans and have a
beard, an image often linked to bin Laden.

"In our communities, historically, we have seen huge
spikes in hate crimes after major events that have
transpired in the Middle East," said Kavneet Singh,
western regional director of the national Sikh
American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

And certain communities continue to feel the backlash
of 9/11, even now. A recent study shows that people
with Arab or South Asian-sounding names may not even
get their foot in the door. Among all ethnic groups,
Arab Americans and South Asians fared the worst in
employment hiring in the Bay Area, according to the
Berkeley-based Discrimination Research Center.

Identical rsums were sent out in 2003 to temporary
employment agencies, and while the fictitious "Heidi
McKenzie" received a 37 percent response rate,
"Abdul-Aziz Mansour" received only 23 percent.

"One of the big implications of all this is that
manifestations of anti-Muslim sentiments are also seen
in hiring," said Siri Thanasombat, program manager at
the DRC. "Even at the first gateway to job
opportunities, these anti-Muslim sentiments are coming
through, just because you have a name that is
ethnically identifiable or a name that is
threatening."

Backlash from 9/11 hasn't cooled off because of the
world climate, such as the war in Iraq and the recent
London transit bombings, all associated with Muslims
or those perceived to be Muslim, says Safaa Ibrahim of
CAIR-San Francisco Bay Area.

"The climate around the world impacts public opinion
here, creating backlash against certain ethnic and
religious groups," she said.

Joan Ehrlich, district director of San Francisco
region's EEOC, acknowledged that an increase in
reports could be due to efforts by the EEOC to reach
out to Muslims, South Asians and Middle Easterners,
and an increase in awareness of rights as groups such
as the ACLU and CAIR educate communities hit by 9/11
backlash.

At the same time, Ehrlich says EEOC under counts the
number of actual incidents, because employees fear
being blacklisted from jobs or being seen as a
troublemaker. Like sexual harassment, discrimination
against religion or race is less likely to be
reported, Ehrlich said. And communities under scrutiny
by the government may be wary of any government
agency.

"The numbers don't tell the whole story because
obviously, people don't trust the government, so most
people only come forward in extreme circumstances,"
she said.

Contact Momo Chang at mchang@....




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