Deploying Race to Silent Dissent: : How Arab Americans were Racialized as Terror Threats

April 1, 2018 This talk addresses how the racialization of Arab Americans differed in timing from that of other racialized groups in the US, even though many of its ideological aspects (essentializing) and outcomes (discrimination, surveillance, and hate crimes) are shared. The racialization of Arabs foreshadowed the racialization of US Muslims and South Asians as terror threats. This history should lay to rest the commonly held, but inaccurate, idea that the “special treatment” of US Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians started with 9/11. This talk examines these topics and more. Louise Cainkar, Associate Professor of Sociology & Social Welfare and Justice and Director, Peace Studies Major, Marquette University