Acknowledging the genuineness of the feeling of despair as
expressed below, there is a dispassionate way to look at things
aso that might help. The issue is of racims, both its reality and
its perception.  One thing few of us realize thgat racism has been
accepted and legitimized by ALL by the very act of nation formation.
The very existence of  various nations  primarily based on racial
similarities is a tacit racism in action. Of course, pragmatism, new
economy, technology has forced significant cracks in this dividing
wall. But racism is also a more pervasive entity than one realizes.
It is only a matter of degree and scale.  Look at the way the
Middle East nations treat people of the  subcontinent, like slaves,
Miskins. lower breed etc. Go to Korea, Japan and live there, and see
how they view our race. They will not stare at you (Its not their
habit), but socially/officially you will never be given the same status
as themselves. And how about us? Our folks call the white skinned
foreigners "Red Monkeys/Farangs" etc. One cannot escape it anywhere.
To reductively deconstruct this endemic  aspect of life  one ultimately
would be  led to one's  immediate family. So it all about selfish
genes. Escaping in Bangladesh may save one from one form of racism,
but it will not protect one from the indigenous form of it. Where we
see one region mocking accent of another region, refusing to even
intermarry, uttering sterotypes about the others. (Oh, they are from
Comilla, never marry your daughter/son to their familly..), or "What
can you expect, they are from  Sylhet.." etc.  And then reduce it further,
it will be someone from the same region/village saying  "Oh they are from
that family", never even think of  .. etc. Its never  going to end until you
end at your immdeiate family (Same gene). Tell me where can you
escape racism. At the end the only lament  that makes sense is  "I 
miss my family". Again selfish gene is the buzz word.

Now come to the problem of heightened tension in US after the Sep 11
incident. Heightened bitter feelings provoked by an incident are
not necessarily any more racist than what is already dictated by selfish
gene. After all, as the anecdote below testifoes, before Sep 11, friendly
people were complementating  saris,  salwar kamiz etc.  So this new
feeling is a cause-effect one. Although, it is misdirected in many cases, as
was in this case. Of course, not all are terrorists. By the same token, not all
Americans are  racists (Beyond the biologically ingrained one that we
all are equal endowed with) either. There are equally or more  incidents
of Americans (Of course white is implied here) who are very conscientious
about not misdirecting their outrage and are very cautious to distinguish,
many are openly advocating tolerance and prudence. There may be few
incidents of hate, but many more incidents of non-hate (people of foreign
origins going to work, or other places, being treated the same as always by
their white American collegues/boss, or by their  neighbors, friends ) do not
get noticed or advertized either. The negatuve incidents/feelings  is a
reaction to an action (And a very nasty action) and is very focussed. Blacks,
who are traditionally asscoiated with racism, are not being targetted this
time. I have not heard of KKK exploiting this incident to target agaunst the
blacks. So it would be an overreaction to characterize this as racism, although

it is indeed rooted in the biologocal racism that exists in all of us. As
unpleasant as it feels to be a target of this, we have to understand it
dispassionate in the proper perspective. When I first arrived in US two
decades ago ther was this residual feeling of bittreness towrad iranians
and Iranician looking people after the US hostage incident in Tehran by
Khomeni. One man cam and asked me "Are you Iranian?". I said no. He
walked on and so did I. It did not bother me. I understood it. In few years
it became a dead issue for all foreigners as well as Iranians in USA. It never
had any lasting effect or impact. This time it will be more deeprooted. But
understnding it peoperly is still required. And it may again become a
non-issue if it is not fuled any further by anyone from any side.

At the end, one is free to go back to one's native country, if it does not
work out for anyone. At least one does not have to stay here. One can
always come back anytime they wish to (Most are imigrants and citizens
anyway). Having lived about two decades in US I have never bothered
about second class citizen etc., nor was it necessary, I have worked in
company, with white, Cuban Black immigrant , and Indian immigrants
as bosses and collegues. In school, as a graduate teaching assistant, I
have been treated with respect by native white Ameican students and
sometimes even held to reverance at a discomforting level (Being called
professor etc, may be due to my glasses). anecdotes don't  establish a
general principle, but they refute a general stereotypical rule by citing
exceptions to the rule.

At 9/23/01 09:10 AM, you wrote: 

>
> The incident of September 11 has affected a lot of people in many ways. 
> However, I believe it has a long-term impact on the way the minorities will
> be treated in this country. For the first time in my life in the US, I
> am realizing the loneliness of being part of the minority group. As I
> hear more and more news of incidents of racial harassment, I feel embarrassed
> and ashamed.  A friend was saying that he heard on the radio, someone
> suggesting that all Muslims in the US should be put in the concentration
> camps. Another friend had trash piled up in front of her apartment. My cousin
> who had moved to the USA 25 years ago when he was 10 years old and had
> married an American woman got death threat on the phone. My brother’s
> brother-in-laws got interrogated by FBI agents. One Pakistani gentle man was
> asked to leave the airplane right before it was ready to take off. It goes on
> and on. It is surprising to see that this one single incident of the World
> Trade Center has made some people of the ‘land of immigrants’ to stereotype
> all Muslims/ South East Asians to be terrorists! <?xml:namespace prefix = o
> ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
>
> All these reports of racial bias are also changing the way I perceive myself
> in this country.  Two days after the WTC incident, I went to the grocery
> store in salwar kamiz. Although this is nothing unusual, but I felt different
> this time. Being the only one in the store in a different outfit from the
> rest, I felt that some angry eyes were following me. I am used to people here
> asking me if I was from the Middle East or Pakistan. Could it be that because
> of my looks and outfit people were thinking I come from the terrorist groups
> – I ask myself?  Maybe they were cursing me in their minds -- who knows. My
> looks and outfit perhaps were making them suspicious about me.
>
> However, this stands in stark contrast the way I have been treated in my past
> years of life in the US. Not so long ago people would come to me and
> complement my sari or salwar kamiz. I always felt proud of such an elegant
> outfit called sari. But for the first time, I regretted not wearing jeans in
> a public place, and being the target of suspicions of many angry minds as a
> result. I feel that my skin color and name will never make me an American in
> the eyes of others no matter how hard I try to speak in American accent and
> no matter how long I live in this country. Maybe the racial ill feelings had
> always existed in the hearts of many people we see around.  All it took was
> a catalyst for it to come out.
>
> My heart gets heavy as I think of all these possibilities. I got rid of all
> religious practices in my personal life long time ago and I am against all
> religious fanaticism especially Islamic terrorism but it is also true that I
> feel humiliated nonetheless. I feel sorry for myself for being a second-class
> citizen in the land of the affluent. I feel sad. I miss Bangladesh.
>
> Lopa Tasneem