The Intersection of Racial profiling and Xenophobia within different societal contexts

Race and Technology

Technological advancements and social issues of racism may not appear directly related but in fact technology was formed within a society riddled with prejudices, it would only make sense for these inequalities to be embedded within it. "Feed a bunch of racist data, collected from a long racist history ... and what you get is a racist system that treats the racism that's put into it as the truth” (Bell quoted by Karimi, 2021). Facial recognition, for instance, is shown to be more accurate for certain demographic groups, between four groups of light skinned males, light skinned females, dark skinned males and dark-skinned females the results indicated that facial recognition performed the worst on black females with error rates of 34% compared to light skinned males (Najibi, 2020). This leads to very dangerous consequences, increasing the risk of misidentifying black individuals and aggravating the existing concern of wrongfully accusing them of crimes they haven't committed.

 

With the presence of mass surveillance in modern civilisation, this poses as a risk for black communities considering its roots in institutional racism. Browne points out how blackness functions “as a key site through which surveillance is practised, narrated and enacted” (quoted by Garcia-Rojas, 2016). As Ruha Benjamin highlights, it reinforces past colonial practices by mirroring Jim Crow laws which were created to enforce racial segregation. She discusses these past laws through the concept of what she calls the New Jim Code to examine “a range of discriminatory designs that encode inequity: by explicitly amplifying racial hierarchies, by ignoring but thereby replicating social divisions, or by aiming to fix racial bias but ultimately doing quite the opposite”. Particularly the use of surveillance today mirrors a modern version of the previous lantern law, which mandated that black, mixed race, and indigenous people needed to carry lantern lights when dark. Punishment of physical violence was enforced if the law was broken, thus emphasising the racial pattern of discrimination that is passed down in today's more advanced methods. Comparably Josh Scannell made the comparison of lantern laws to the police’s use of high-intensity artificial lights, flood lights or the flashing roof lights on their cars during the night to illuminate certain neighbourhoods ensuring marginalised groups are ‘seen clearly’ to prevent crimes (Garcia-Rojas, 2016). Ultimately, this perpetuates the continuity of racism in time through needing to persistently observe black communities and other marginalised groups.

 

This left me reflect on the relationship between racism and other forms of technology, specifically how it explored on social media. While it provided for increased awareness and a space for social solidarity and education, it's also fuelled the spread of racism through medias like twitter, forums and comment sections. This is all public, it gave rise to constant online disputes as people feel more ease expressing radical opinions they would otherwise refrain from sharing if they weren't for the anonymity of their screens. Social media allowed for interconnectedness of people across the world to easily communicate, exposing us to drastic views we would otherwise not come across within our own community. In my own experience, I’ve never physically known anyone Islamophobic, especially considering I come from a Muslim family. But thanks to the internet, I’ve seen countless xenophobic and Islamophobic comments. In other words, while technology could be used to spread awareness on social issues, it also spreads false information and can foster hateful communities that increase the level of racism, ultimately creating online societies of aggressive extremists from all sides.

 

Race and Disability

The amount of research into the relationship between race and disability is still small. Lawrence Ralph, one of the only anthropologists exploring this fairly new subject matter, studied a gang population in Chicago in relation to disability. Most data gathered and taken into consideration are fatal statistics of murders and crime related complication, little attention is given to the more complicated actuality that most victims of gun violence are four times more likely to become severely injured or disables instead of dying. Gun violence is also the main cause of disability in black and Hispanic communities who also make up the larger part of gangs in Chicago (Ralph, 2012). The main issue with this is that most scholars tend to detach racial discrimination from disability discrimination. This demonstrates a lack of discussions surrounding intersectionality. By avoiding important discussions between the seemingly indirect correlation of disability and race, it allows for the further reinforcement of inequalities that marginalised groups already experience on a regular basis. The need to research social inequality through intersectionality is required at this point as it brings to light how deep-rooted racism is within society, and this highlights the extent we must go to in order to eradicate fundamental racist origins in our society. Upon reading Ralph’s findings, it reminded me of an article of the Guardian I had read a few years back, discussing the government's plans on cutting costs on disability services. “Ministers’ social care and welfare reforms represent a deliberately prejudiced, vicious attack on a significant minority of the population” (Beresford, 2017). Although this is an example of the British government rather than an American response to disability, it still calls attention to the larger issue which again, is that lack of care puts into indirect social inequalities that disabled people face. The disabled communities already struggle with a shortage of accessibility, it can only be worse when racial prejudice is also involved. Furthermore, not the intersectional link goes beyond between race and disability, it also brings to light the disadvantage of class. “We have also seen disabled students’ allowances cut; a reduction in funding of Access to Work, which made it possible for many disabled people to get into and stay in work” (ibid.). Says a lot about class position and how it modifies your relationship to disability, by cutting costs for disabilities, they of course only affect lower classes, others with financial stability can still manage a financially secured lifestyle. For instance, Justin, a disabled victim of gun violence who regularly attends forums on this issue explained his worries to Ralph, "It's like they're preaching to the choir. The guys who really need to be there, the boys who really need to hear those stories, they're out on the street" (quoted by Ralph, 2012). This all reinforces a self-fulfilling prophecy, if the law isn't on your side, you're left with no choice but to accept your gang affiliation as the best you can do with your situation.

 

Colonial and imperial histories

We often underestimate how deeply rooted racist thoughts are embedded in our perception of society, with colonial views even affecting our understandings of science and biology, subject matters that we would otherwise view as being unbiased and unprejudiced. Racial issues are usually reserved for social inequalities. For instance, “the British army in India selected local recruits based on racialized assumptions that some groups of Indians were inherently “martial.” [...] Colonial proponents of “martial race theory” claimed that groups like “Sikhs, Gurkhas, Dogras, Rajputs, and Pathans'' were intrinsically suited to military work” (Lanzillo, 2020). The martial race theory argued that this race of men is born with a biological disposition to certain masculine qualities that could aid in war. Using a similar example of a theory I had read about Darwinism, these supposed conclusions made can cause dangerous repercussions. We all know Darwin as the founder of the theory of evolution, yet not many know about his 1871 book, The Descent of Man which was deeply immersed with racist white supremist conclusions. For example, not only does he justify violence caused by colonialism, “From the remotest times successful tribes have supplanted other tribes. ... At the present-day civilised nations are everywhere supplanting barbarous nations”, but he also believed that white people were biologically superior to other races, “western nations of Europe ... now so immeasurably surpass their former savage progenitors and stand at the summit of civilization”. Yet probably the most disturbing theory of his how he contended that Africans and Australians are more closely related to apes than Europeans are, “and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla” (quoted by Anderson, 2016). This causes serious reason for concern regarding the entire belief in the theory of evolution as it's scary to think that what we widely accept as mostly fact could have originated based off massively problematic views. Now I do not wish to discuss whether one should believe in the theory of evolution, that is beside the point, instead I wish to bring to light how deeply rooted colonial and white supremist thought is in parts of our comprehension of society we would otherwise not question. If the theory of evolution is perhaps based on a racist model, what other subject matters that we believe to be fair and unbiased also have racist foundations?

 

Whiteness

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on the term whiteness in relation to myself. Growing up in morocco, race was never something i thought about, although there are white and black Moroccans, there isn't much of a social segregation between white and black Moroccan communities. I was raised with the idea that we’re all just Moroccan. Having said that, racism does exist in morocco, as it does in all countries however, Moroccans don't experience colonial institutional racism. For this reason, I never thought about the colour of my skin and its impact until I moved to England. While some people called me white, I was also accepted by some African communities in London as they accepted me as one of ‘us’ instead of being viewed as one of the western ‘them’, this was due to the fact that i had just moved from northern Africa. “‘Whiteness’ is a form of identity based on an idea of race. It is most usually implicit, unspoken, and invisible. In James Baldwin’s terms, whiteness is the identity of those ‘who consider themselves white’” (Nye, 2017). However, the issue I have with this comment is that by not identifying myself as white, I would feel ignorant to the white privilege I experience thus I wondered, does the term whiteness refer to being culturally white, or physically white? On the other hand, “the idea of race did not only come about through the imbalanced relationship between colonists (British) and enslaved (Africans). It was also created by the process of bringing together the different (‘white’) identities of the colonists in North America. [...] and also about the tensions and conflicts between the English and the Arab Muslim world at the time of the crusades” (ibid.). This quote represents the other side of how I feel with the identification. I do not feel that I am a part of bringing together of white identities, and at times I would get frustrated when I was referred to as white, especially when speaking of culturally European stereotypes, “British unionism is a part of the historical construction of white racialized identity” (ibid.). I am not biologically European at all and haven't even lived in the west for most of my life, I felt that I was the opposite of the ‘white’ stereotype. Upon further reflection, I also realised that my gender played a big role as well. Although my brother also has white skin, he does not experience any form of white privilege, if anything he goes through a lot of instances of discrimination by Islamophobic people based on how Arab be looks. Yet even though I also look Arab, the fact that I've never personally experienced islamophobia may indicate that females are seen as less of a threat. Having said that, I also want to acknowledge how different the experiences are for hijabi female Muslims and how many of them receive constant Islamophobic threats compared to non hijabi females.

 

Terrorism and the media

In this section, I’ll be looking at how specifically the media fuelled false beliefs about terrorism. To start, using RAI’s primetime news as an example, which is an Italian public service broadcast, Islamophobic statements were used to contrast the one true religion, Christianity, Muslims were describes as not “part of our humanity” (Cere, 2010). How are these types of deranged comments made by something that's meant to spread objective and neutral information? The fear of Muslims being terrorists is a direct example of colonial manipulation of the public, the terrorism caused by ISIS doesn’t hold a candle to colonial violence in history, but then why are we scared of Muslims and not scared of white people? Western media is the cause of global socialisation, using propaganda to benefit political campaigns. The West has so much power that they’re allowed to customise the views of themselves, in other words, white supremist are allowed to be racist because they are in power. In reality, even if people are afraid of colonial power, the general opinion of the public must always side with western viewpoints, even for their own safety. This is highlighted by the comment George Bush made after 9/11 saying “every nation in every region has a decision to make, either you are with us, or you are with the terrorist” (Sky History, 2019). Furthermore, to reflect on my own circumstances, I’ve dealt with a huge amount of stereotype from people who have gained all their knowledge of Islam from the media. Edward Saïd (1998) noted that “insofar as Islam has always been seen as belonging to the Orient, its particular faith within the general structure of Orientalism has been to be looked at first of all as if it were one monolithic thing, and then with a very special hostility and fear.” one of the most infuriating comments i receive is even though i come from a Muslim family i don’t ‘act Muslim’, with people expecting a ‘normal’ Muslim to have extreme religious and traditional beliefs. Yet when talking to a Christian, it's common to expect them to have more ‘relaxed’ views.

 

Terrorism and culture

The largest issue with terrorist stereotypes is the generalisation of individual countries as simply Muslim countries, completely undermining the complexity of each culture. When compared to Christian countries, they are all looked at in relation to their individual cultures, with the religion simply being an extension whereas the Arab world in categories as one large Muslim region. “Fewer Muslims live in the Middle East than in Africa or in South and Southeast Asia. If we can think of Christianity and Judaism as global religions [...] then why not try to understand Islam, too, in historical and extraterritorial terms?” (Mamdani, 2002). Once elected president, Trump banned Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Somalia from entering the United States, and over 60,000 visas were revoked (BBC, 2017). By grouping many Muslim countries together as one big threat against the superficially perfect west, it promotes the idea that terrorists aren’t a small group of extremists but instead that any average Muslim should be feared. Similarly, the previous prime minister of England, Theresa May made the statement in 2012 saying “the aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants” when revealing the Hostile Environment Policies. This extreme level of xenophobia not only promotes segregation and prejudiced views to large audiences but especially since the comments were said by presidents and prime ministers, who represent the majority views of a nation, an agentic shift occurs whereby the person in authority completely legitimises the ‘justification’ of racism. My family experiences the strain of this issue first-hand, my mother gave my older brother an Arabic name and still regrets it as she fears it will not only affect his safety but also how stereotypes could impact his career and people's immediate judgement of him. When I was born, my family decided to give me a Western name, with the hopes of me having an easier integration into society, free of categorisation. “We are now told to distinguish between good Muslims and bad Muslims, mind you, not between good and bad persons, nor between criminals and civic citizens, who both happen to be Muslims” (Mamdani, 2002). To this day my brother experiences the consequences of the ideas of surrounding his name and how he ‘looks Muslim’, especially when going to airport, constantly being stopped and questioned.

 

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Bibliography

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- BBC News. 2017. Trump's executive order: Who does travel ban affect?. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38781302>

 

- Beresford, P., 2017. Why is the government waging a war against disabled people?. [online] the Guardian. Available at:

<https://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2017/nov/23/government-waging-war-against-disabled-people>

 

- Cere, R., 2002. "Islamophobia" and the Media in Italy. Feminist Media Studies, 2(1), pp.133-136.

 

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- Garcia-Rojas, C., 2016. The Surveillance of Blackness: From the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to Contemporary Surveillance Technologies. [online] Truthout. Available at:

<https://truthout.org/articles/the-surveillance-of-blackness-from-the-slave-trade-to- the-police/>

 

- Karimi, F., 2021. People of color have a new enemy: techno-racism. [online] CNN. Available at:

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- Lanzillo, A., 2020. Racializing Craftsmen: How British martial race theory erased Pathan artisanship - Ajam Media Collective. [online] Ajam Media Collective. Available at: <https://ajammc.com/2020/07/26/pathan-artisanship-india/>

 

- Mamdani, M., 2002. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism. American Anthropologist, 104(3), pp.766-775.

 

- Najibi, A., 2020. Racial Discrimination in Face Recognition Technology - Science in the News. [online] Science in the News. Available at:

<https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/racial-discrimination-in-face-recognition- technology/>

 

- Nye, M., 2017. The British construction of whiteness: unionism, imperialism, and the United Kingdom. [online] Medium. Available at:

<https://medium.com/there-shall-be-an-independent-scotland/did-british-unionism-invent-whiteness-13200fe819cc>

 

- Ralph, L., 2012. What Wounds Enable: The Politics of Disability and Violence in Chicago. 23(3).

 

- Saîd, E., 2022. Islam Through Western Eyes. [online] The Nation. Available at: <https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/islam-through-western-eyes/>

 

- SKY HISTORY. 2020. The Story of the Global War on Terror: Timeline. [online] Available at:

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