September 11 permanently erased Arab Christians’ and Muslims’ claim to Whiteness

Evidence

These transformations in White identity explain why Arabs sought entrance to Whiteness through their own paths of assimilation during the twentieth century. As the next chapter explains, Arab immigrants’ success depended largely on whether they were phenotypically White presenting— that is, European-looking—and Christian. Although international developments such as the Iranian Revolution, the Palestinian resistance, and the First Gulf War obstructed Muslims’ path toward Whiteness, their racialization was sporadic and avoidable through assimilation. However, the September 11 terrorist attacks resulted in a permanent fall from Whiteness for both Arab Muslims and Arab Christians. Muslims of diverse ethnicities became national security threats. Put simply, their religion raced them. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 382

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth investigating: the claim that 9/11 was a permanent break where earlier events were not — what specifically made it irreversible?
• CANDY: ‘Their religion raced them’ is a compact, shareable line capturing the whole argument that religious identity became a proxy for race after 9/11.