#iwhat

Shortly after the attacks, President Bush made a public appearance at Washington's largest Islamic Center and acknowledged the "incredibly valuable contribution" that millions of American Muslims made to their country and called for them "to be treated with respect.”

However, numerous incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Muslims and South Asians were reported in the days following the attacks. This was because US citizens wished to take revenge on the Muslim community for having caused so much damage to their country, and wanted to do that in any way possible, even if it meant attacking normal Muslim civilians simply because they practised the same religion as the terrorist group which attacked them. There was also a negative mindset perpetuated amongst the people then, which was that all Muslims were to blame for the attacks made by the terrorist groups. People believed that normal Muslims believed in the same things that the terrorist group did, thus adding to their hatred and disgust for them.

Sikhs were also targeted because Sikh males usually wear turbans, which are stereotypically associated with Muslims. There were reports of attacks on mosques and other religious buildings (including the firebombing of a Hindu temple), and assaults on people, including one murder. Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh mistaken for a Muslim, was shot and killed on September 15, 2001, in Mesa, Arizona.

Thus, Islamophobia is defined as the dislike or discrimination against of Muslims, and it only became prevalent in society in recent years. We will now be going into further detail on Islamophobia.

So, what exactly is Islamophobia, how did it start, and why is it considered as part of racism? 

Islamophobia only started to get prevalent in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The 9/11 attacks, according to Wikipedia, were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks consisted of suicide attacks used to target symbolic U.S. landmarks. The attacks caused great damage to the US, and the fallout was great in magnitude.

Uhhhhhh