WASHINGTON — Discrimination and hate crimes against Arab-Americans have dropped in recent years after a spike following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but such prejudice is still more common than in the 1980s and 1990s, according to a report by an advocacy group.
The study gives Hollywood some credit for presenting a more balanced view of Arabs and Muslims in recent films. But it said prejudice is worse than ever in popular culture. It particularly faulted the news media for allowing political commentators to inflame fears that Muslims are terrorists.
The American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee released the study Thursday.
The group said it received reports of about 130 violent hate crimes against Arab- Americans annually between 2003 and 2007. That’s up slightly from the roughly 90 annual reports it received during the 1980s but down dramatically from the roughly 700 incidents reported in the weeks after 9/11.
The group collected data for the report on its own, in part using anecdotal information. But its hate-crime numbers are consistent with those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which reported about 140 victims of anti-Islamic hate crimes in 2007, up from about 40 in 1995 and down sharply from more than 500 in 2002.
