Why do Americans Only Care Sometimes?

America has had a long history of getting involved in foreign affairs and helping to bolster certain political leaders that support American agendas. One of the most notable examples would be the empowerment of Saddam Hussein in Iraq via the American government. When Saddam began to create extremists, America decided it was time to step back in and take control. However, in doing so they unknowingly began the “War on Terror” which is still being fought today. This war has shaped the way Americans view people of Middle Eastern descent and how America continues to view wars and the people surrounding them.

Since this post is right on the heels of the anniversary of 9/11, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the impact of this event and how it was a catalyst for the discrimination of refugees and other non-white people. 9/11 was the first time America had been attacked at home since Pearl Harbor. This created an atmosphere of pain, loss, anger, and vengeance. Enlistment rates skyrocketed as Americans lined up to go fight the terrorists that attacked their country. However, behind-the-scenes politicians saw this as a great opportunity to seize assets from Iraq (mainly oil) under the guise of patriotism. In order for this plan to work the American public had to rally against one shared enemy: the other. This meant that anyone who looked like our enemy became our enemy.

As troops poured into Iraq the war on terror intensified and the citizens of Iraq were caught in the middle. Regardless of their beliefs towards terrorism and the U.S., the Iraqi people were all portrayed as the enemy by the media. This led to the brutalization and inhumane treatment of innocent people by American soldiers. In 2005 in the city of Haditha, 15 innocent Iraqi civilians were gunned down in retaliation by American troops. An IED, killing Lance Corp Miguel Terrazas, sent American soldiers into a rage. The soldiers went house to house killing everyone inside. One house was found to have “eight bodies… aged between two and 14.” (Asser 2008).

This was all covered up by the media as the story of 15 Iraqi civilians getting killed in the crossfire between insurgents and soldiers began to circulate. “The tragedy of Haditha may have been left at that - just another statistic of "war-torn" Iraq - a place too dangerous to be reported properly by journalists, where openness is not in the interests of political and military circles, and the sheer scale of death numbs the senses” (Asser 2008)

This is just one account of how race and ethnicity were used as an excuse to violate innocent people who had no control over where they lived and how they looked. In stark contrast, Ukrainian refugees have been welcomed with open arms into the U.S. “[T]he Department of Homeland Security promised Temporary Protected Status to all Ukrainians currently present in the United States, a designation yet to be extended to Afghans, among others whose home countries the U.S. played a direct role in destabilizing.” (Granger 2022) This is likely because many Ukrainians are Christian and look Caucasian. America and many other countries have been programmed in recent years to see the enemy as someone that doesn’t share a common appearance or religion. Since many Ukrainians share the same appearance and religion as Americans, we subconsciously feel more trusting and accepting.

I myself am a Chinese American and have experienced the effects of unconscious bias towards people of a certain ethnicity because of events happening halfway across the world. When COVID-19 began to make its way around the world everyone looked at Asians as if we were individually responsible for a virus simply because it was first found in China. (Being a biology major, this was extra frustrating because it showed that not only is the majority of the populous subconsciously racist but also scientifically inept.) In this instance, the “war” was against COVID-19 and Americans were quick to place anyone who resembled Asian ethnicity as “other.” However, I noticed that once I began to speak in my clear midwestern accent their attitudes changed. This is a prime example of having to win over the acceptance of people by proving to them that you are more like them than their biases led them to believe. Now I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to say that the experience of Asian Americans holds a candle to that of imprisoned refugees like those that “spend years in detention centers, clandestine prisons, and in conditions of forced labor.” (Granger 2022) However, bringing attention to the impact race plays when it comes to political support is important. If Middles Easterners looked and sounded like Americans or Europeans do you think they’d be experiencing the same level of brutality and ignorance?

References

Asser, Martin. “What Happened at Haditha?” BBC News, BBC, 10 Mar. 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5033648.stm.

Granger, Max. “As Europe Welcomes Ukrainian Refugees, It Leaves Other Migrants Caught ‘between Two Deaths.’” The Intercept, The Intercept, 8 Mar. 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/03/08/ukraine-refugees-europe-border-policy-libya-sally-hayden/.

Scahill, Jeremy, director. A Brief History of U.S. Intervention in Iraq Over the Past Half Century. YouTube , The Intercept, 9 Apr. 2018, Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.