Neil MacFarquhar examines the Pakistani community in Chicago in today’s New York Times. Why is the Pakistani population in America so much better intergrated and less prone to radicalism than the Pakistani population in the United Kingdom? We could ask the same thing of the respective Muslim populations of the United States and Europe. MacFarquhar doesn’t come up with any definitive answer, but he does gather some clues. And these clues, while reassuring, also provide clear warning signals.
Pakistani immigration to the United States surged after laws in the 1960’s made it easier for Asians to enter the country. Most were drawn by jobs in academia, medicine and engineering. It was only in the late 1980’s and 90’s that Pakistanis arrived to work blue-collar jobs as taxi drivers or shopkeepers, said Adil Najam, the author of the book on donations and an international relations professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
In Britain, by comparison, the first Pakistanis arrived after World War II to work in factories. Many were fleeing sectarian strife in Kashmir — a lingering source of resentment — and entire communities picked up and resettled together. This created Pakistani ghettos in cities like Bradford and Birmingham, whereas in the United States immigrants tended to be scattered and newcomers forced to assimilate. The trends intensified with time.
So, one difference is clear. The initial Pakistani immigrants to America came for technical education. They were an elite subset of the Pakistan society. They received advanced degrees and obtained good, high paying jobs. The initial Pakistani diaspora to Britian was made up of lower class immigration. Many of the immigrants were really refugees. They were put to use in factory and other low skill labor jobs, and developed ghettoes, rather than assimilating. They did not have the benefit of a pre-existing and prosperous ex-pat community to serve as both a support and as an example. When lower class Pakistanis finally began arriving in the United States in the 1980’s, they had advantages that the early immigrants to Britian did not enjoy.
When asked about the prospect of homegrown terrorism, the Pakistanis of Chicago were cautious.
The most common response is no, at least not now, because of differences that have made Pakistanis in the United States far better off economically and more assimilated culturally than their counterparts in Britain. But some Pakistani-Americans do not rule out the possibility, given how little is understood about the exact tipping point that pushes angry young Muslim men to accept an ideology that endorses suicide and mass murder.
The idea of a relatively smaller, more prosperous, more striving immigrant community inoculating against terror cells goes only so far, they say.
“It makes it sound like it couldn’t happen here because we are the good immigrants: hard-working, close-knit, educated,” said Junaid Rana, an assistant professor of Asian-American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an American-born son of Pakistani immigrants. “But we are talking about a cult mind-set, how a cult does its brainwashing.”
The Chicago Pakistanis explain their lack of radicalism as rooted in America’s meritocratic ethos, the relative prosperity of their community, less job discrimination, and a further distance from the troubles of the Middle East. And, yet, we should be careful. If prosperity is key, we have a couple hundred thousand more recent Pakistani immigrants that do not come from the upper reaches of society and are not on the fast-track to an advanced degree in medicine or engineering. How well will they do financially?
How these Muslims are perceived and treated is also important.
A more important factor in determining who becomes a militant is most likely the feeling of being stigmatized as less than equal, community activists say, noting that such discrimination remains far more common in Britain…
…Overt bigotry is rarer here, but it exists. For instance, Mohamed Hanis, a taxi driver who is a Pakistani immigrant, said that on the Friday night after the terror alert in London, a young white man climbed into his cab. Noticing the name Mohamed, the man threatened to report that Mr. Hanis had admitted to supporting terrorist attacks unless he could get a free ride. Instead, Mr. Hanis hailed a police officer who forced the passenger to pay.
Mr. Hanis had faith in the system. And, for now, the system vindicated his faith in it. The question is, how will Muslims react to increasing levels of bigotry and marginalization as the right-wing ratchets up the fear factor? When does bigotry begin to serve as a direct security thread by radicalizing elements within our society. To see what I am talking about, check out dmsilev’s diary about Free Republic reactions to innocent Muslims being forced off a plane. Here’s a couple samples from their readership.
Yea, whatever….it’s about time that people stood up for their concern against those “religion of peace” members. It’s their own fault…let’s hope it happens more often.
If they don’t like it, they should take it up with their local Imam, who is advocating terrorism.
I rather be a live racist then a dead liberal
Unpleasant enough to fly with Islamofascists, but what of those who in our dark times keep frightening beards, and yammer away in Arabic? On a plane?
It would take them under one minute to shave their bears. To act live civilized human beings should require no extra burden on their part.
Given our recent history, people everywhere should give extra attention to people who harbor an unusual attraction to goats, or clad their women in army surplus tents.I may be an intolerant bigot, but I’m not gonna be a sacrifice to satanallah!
If I have to drive in certain areas of Baltimore, It’s common sense to have my doors locked and my confederate flag furled. If I get on a plane loaded with Muslims, I don’t need to to be told to stash my Star of David for the duration.
If I’m an African American and I really don’t like being pulled over by the cops all the time, maybe I’ll ditch the gangster clothes, subwoofer,gold teeth & chains,car, dope,weapons and expired plates. And say “Sir”.
If I’m a Muslim and I insist on wearing a beard and a diaper on my head while I read the Koran out loud, perhaps I shouldn’t board an EL AL jet.Arabs should be forced to fly in bomb-proof compartments. In the company of pigs.
Some of you folks may live in areas where you work and play with muzlims…I don’t…
I’m afraid if I walked onto a plane and saw someone who appeared to be muzlim, I’d get right back off…
A few weeks ago, I was at one of the local ‘box’ stores…This person comes walking thru the parking lot…He’s talking on a cell phone and he’s got what must be a bedspread wrapped around his head…Looked like a large beehive…
I said to my wife (within earshot of this guy), hey, there there’s one of them rag heads…He didn’t turn around and look…I was surprised… The parking lot was full of people and it seemed everone stopped, turned and stared as this guy went into the store…
You could feel and ‘see’ the tension…The people are cautious…We have enough wimps, sissies and globalists that will allow izlam to take over America…I’m not one of ’em…If yer a muzlim and I insult you, to bad, so sad, get out of my country…
I think racial and religious profiling is terrible. So unjust!
But being a practical man, I will not make a complaint without offering a solution to this gross and bigoted ethnic and religious injustice.
Muslims should travel by camel. Until I say otherwise. Being a fair man, and well known for same in my community, I think this is the best solution. When the Sons of Allah design and build an airplane entirely on their own from the ground up, I will accept their individual applications for flights on our airplanes.if her husband were to buy a cowboy hat and some boots noone would ever suspect him of being a terrorist ever again.
It’s pretty clear that these Freepers have been radicalized into racist and eliminationist thinking by sustained exposure to fear messaging. How much will it take to turn a few Pakistani-Americans into militants if they are made to feel inadequate, discriminated against, and made to live in fear?
For the past eight years, Abdul Qadeer Sheikh, 46, has managed Islamic Books N Things on Devon Avenue, which sells items like Korans, prayer rugs and Arabic alphabet books. He says that since Sept. 11, he has seen signs of the bias that has existed in Britain for decades developing here. He describes a distinctive fear of being seen as Muslim, even along Devon Avenue. Before, a good 70 percent of the women who came into his shop were veiled, he said. Now the reverse is true, and far fewer men wear traditional clothes.
The attitude of the American government in adopting terms like “Islamic fascists” and deporting large numbers of immigrants, he said, makes Muslims feel marked, as if they do not belong here. “The society in the United States is much fairer to foreigners than anywhere else,” he said, “but that mood is changing.”
It is ironic, but it may be that Republicans’ fear mongering will create an internal security threat where one currently does not exist. Or, more precisely, they may be taking what is a low level threat, and increasing the danger.
