Muslim Americans appeared only as hypothetical threat in 1789, not as real persons

Evidence

Although Muslim Americans are bona fide citizens, their religious identity induces scrutiny of their citizenship status, patriotism, and belonging. This scrutiny is strongest after national crises, and specifically in the direct aftermath of a terror attack committed by a Muslim culprit. As constitutional law scholar Kenneth Karst writes, “In times of trouble … fears tend to focus on particular groups of cultural outsiders as a source of danger.” This is particularly true for Muslim Americans, whose religious affiliation can negate any legal or material claim to Americanness and hold them out to be threatening interlopers. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 340 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Muslim lives are less grievable than American ones in public memory; Private citizens surveil Muslim religious practice as a threat to American values.; Muslim citizenship in America is negated by religious identity after crises — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 340 (+3 more)

Related

• Muslim citizenship in America is negated by religious identity after crises (similarity 0.89)
• Muslim lives are less grievable than American ones in public memory (similarity 0.85)
• Private citizens surveil Muslim religious practice as a threat to American values. (similarity 0.83)
• Muslims are positioned as an external threat against America’s internal enemies. (similarity 0.83)
• Islam in America operates as a political identity of otherness beyond religion (similarity 0.81)
• Anti-Muslim crisis periods simultaneously empower and marginalize Arab American communities (similarity 0.81)
• Citizenship in America has historically been tied to whiteness and Christianity (similarity 0.81)
• Removing the hijab is framed as an act befitting American citizenship. (similarity 0.81)
• A religious identity coded as non-white could legally bar naturalization. (similarity 0.81)
• Islamophobes, not Muslims, constitute the gravest threat to American civil liberties (similarity 0.81)
• Crisis-time scapegoating of religious out-groups masks political and economic causes (similarity 0.80)
• The prospect of mass internment occupies the center of the collective Muslim American psyche. (similarity 0.80)
• The twenty-first century’s defining problem may be integrating Muslims into democratic societies (similarity 0.80)
• No US religious community endures such simultaneous embrace and surveillance (similarity 0.80)
• Muslim Americans must prove patriotic loyalty before being accepted as American (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• American Islamophobia borrowed British stereotypes because Americans had little contact with Muslims #corroborates (0.60)
• Muslim citizenship in America is negated by religious identity after crises #expands (0.55) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 340
• State interests, not religion, defined early US dealings with Muslims. #expands (0.55)
• Muslim lives are less grievable than American ones in public memory #expands (0.50)
• Religious identity replaced ethnicity as the marker making Muslim Americans seen as anti-American #expands (0.50)
• Private citizens surveil Muslim religious practice as a threat to American values. #expands (0.45)