Even racialized portrayals of Muslim enemies carried Islamophobic overtones

Evidence

Second, some might argue that American concerns about certain threats (e.g., the Barbary pirates) did not focus on Islam at all. We agree that in certain confrontations, American representations may have fixed primarily on the supposed race, ethnicity, and/or nation of an antagonistic group that happened to be Muslim. However, even such depictions almost invariably included Islamophobic inflections that proved Islam to be a damning quality of that group. For instance, the Barbary pirates might be “Arabs” but that included—if it was not exacerbated by—the unfortunate quality of being Muslim as well. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 102

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Crusade rhetoric racialized Muslims as a vile and accursed race. — Nasar Meer, Racialization and Religion: Race,…, 12; The War on Terror racializes all Muslims as a boundless enemy to justify war — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 540