The Invisible Discrimination: Police harassment on the Middle Eastern community

The Man Behind The Change.

Osama bin Laden

The man in the photo above gained media attention for being the leader of a group known as Al -Qaeda who was allegedly behind the September 11 attacks on the United States. Osama bin laden gained media attention leading the organization to attack on the U.S that killed thousands of Americans. For nearly, a decade He became the face of an international manhunt by the United States government. On May 2, 2011, He was killed United States government. However, the damage was done for years since 9/11 middle eastern immigrants and Muslim’s have been subjected to harassment by police and discriminatory polices because of Osama’s impact on the American public. The mistreatment of middle eastern Americans and immigrants by police is often untold.

Treatment in the Media Coverage….

The media in the U.S criminalize people of color. Often times the stories are told about Black people. However, middle eastern Americans do face similar discrimination and harassment by police as well. As previously mentioned after 9/11 the middle eastern community begin to face much scrutiny by police due to the discriminatory policies and negative media.

Hadi Abuatelah

Fast forward to recent times a 17-year-old Arabic male Hadi Abuatelah in Chicago was beaten on video by Chicago Police. The video sparked outrage among the Arabic community and Chicago police officers leading to protest by supporters. The teen was about to be taken into custody after a traffic stop and attempted to leave the scene. However, this led to three police officers brutally beating him which led to him being hospitalized.

Abuatelah’s headlines and media coverage weaponized his cultural identity the media focused on his infractions with crime instead of how he was brutally attacked by the three officers. The focus was on his arrests more than what was done to him by police. We see this tactic by the media often done to black and brown communities. Headlines like “teen beaten now face felony charges”  used to justify brutally beating him by the police. He was arrested for robberies on public transportation in the Chicago recently.

Due to the historical mistrusting relationship dating back since 9/11 The media coverage also and created false narrative about the Arabic Muslim protests and Chicago police department. For example, headlines like “Tension is building between Arab Americans and police near Chicago” is used to create division among the Chicago public citizens and the Arab Muslim community. More importantly, headlines like this can spark fear in the public as well.

The Middle Eastern and the Muslim community are subjected to harsh treatment by police. However, their stories are often left out of mainstream conversations. We have to remember to tell the stories like Hadi Abuatelah so that our communities know this happens to other people of color as well. Lastly, also supporting organizations like Arab American Action Network and Councial on American-Islamic Relations as they work to fight against police brutality in our backyards.

By: Bryan Haggard