Muslim Americans move closer to the racial hierarchy’s bottom without reaching it

Evidence

I described the interactional processes that a Muslim identity is racialized through surveillance, which is guided by gender. The racialization of Muslim Americans is not a static process, but is constantly changing due to the sociopolitical climate. I avoid making the claim that the South Asian and Arab Muslims I interviewed are on the bottom of the racial hierarchy because they still enjoy many of the economic and social privileges that have been historically denied to African Americans. Referring back to Samuel Jackson’s comment at the beginning of this chapter, Muslims are not the new black but are moving closer to the bottom of the racial hierarchy, further away from whiteness. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 665

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the book’s central claim that Muslim racialization is positional and gender-guided, not a fixed slot.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what exactly distinguishes ‘moving closer’ from ‘being at’ the bottom in her own interviewees’ accounts?
• XREF: connects to: Black American Muslims suffer compounded vulnerability from converging anti-Black racism and Islamophobia — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 460; Muslim Americans hold nominal but reduced substantive citizenship — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1344; Muslim Americans occupy a liminal racial position above African Americans (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Muslim Americans occupy a liminal racial position above African Americans #corroborates (0.90)
• Muslims move down the racial hierarchy rather than becoming a new race #expands (0.85)