The Other Twilight Struggle

Tuesday, September 25, 2001; Page A22

AS THE MELANCHOLY toll of dead and missing keeps climbing, another depressing statistic continues to mount: the tally of attacks and low-level harassment directed at Arab Americans, Muslims and anyone mistaken for a member of one of those groups. This region, with its large immigrant population, is seeing its share of the ugliness. An imam in a Falls Church mosque said a female member had been beaten in the street with a bat; another man reported that he had been attacked and beaten by a bystander who first asked him, "Are you Afghani?" and, when he said yes, screamed, "I'm going to kill you." The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says it has collected some 300 reports nationwide of incidents large and small, including three murders being investigated as hate crimes. There are also 11 reported cases of people of Middle Eastern appearance being ordered off commercial airliners.

Two weeks after the tragedy, one might expect some falloff in such outbursts of paranoia and rage, especially given the repeated denunciations of such behavior from the president on down. Muslim organizations say federal authorities have been quick to respond to their fears about safety. After a wave of cases where airlines put "Middle Eastern"-looking people off flights or refused to honor their tickets because other passengers expressed discomfort, the Department of Transportation issued a strong reminder that such action is not only intolerant but in many cases illegal. But top-down exhortations can go only so far. The lack of planning evident in many attacks suggests they are momentary bursts of rage, as in the three cases nationwide where drivers have tried to ram their cars through the doors of mosques. And the level of ignorance is high as well: A Sikh religious organization has logged 200 reports of Sikhs targeted presumably because of their turbans and dark skin, including Balbir Singh Sodhi, the shooting victim in Arizona.

Such flailing hatred is something official pronouncements are unlikely to touch. It falls rather to ordinary citizens to take up the task of combating it on a day to day basis. Many citizens have indeed responded with open support, forming escort brigades to accompany women in traditional dress through the streets, challenging Internet rants with calmer words even in the midst of their own grief and shock. Americans, the president told Congress last week, should expect in the war against terrorism "not one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen." The external war is not the only part of this struggle that requires a long attention span. Over the long haul, Americans will need to keep reminding themselves and one another that every crime based in rage and bigotry is another undeserved terrorist win.