The terrorist racial category expanded decade by decade to cover new groups

Evidence

Two consequences flow from these mental adjustments. Both these consequences go some way toward answering the question: In what ways should we conceptualize the alterations in the evil-doing individual? First, contained within these adjustments is a definition of the target groups toward whom harmdoing is deemed appropriate. In some ways this limits the operation of the forces that have been created. It is appropriate to execute the defined groups, but certainly not the groups on whose behalf one strives. One kills lesser races on behalf of the higher races, or one kills Communists to preserve the purity of Argentinean life. Of course, the target groups tend to grow larger. From our own history, not only “Communists” but also “fellow travelers” were seen as a threat to the “American way of life.” And soon, “unknowing fellow travelers” or “Communist dupes” also needed to be ferreted out. To cite a particularly horrible example, some of the Argentinean military were unable to conceive children, and so the practice grew of identifying young women who had just had a child as “Communists” so they could be killed. The children were then given to the military families. The groups that this sort of evildoer feels justified in attacking are contained, but only partially. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3966 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the postwar era, a new process of racialization was born, tied to US imperial ambitions in the MENA region. Scholars in the field of Arab American studies have shown that starting in the late 1960s, Arab Americans were turned into a threatening race of people. Drawing on this work, I argue that terrorist racial formation is an evolving project that goes from a focus on Arabs to include Iranians and later South Asians. It was the crisis of empire and the use of counterinsurgency methods to handle threats abroad and at home that gave rise to the global “Arab terrorist,” produced in conjunction with Israel. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 215 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Israeli-organized conferences shaped the racialized terrorism narrative; Designated enemy groups expand over time beyond their original definition — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3966; Terrorism racialization evolved from Arabs to Iranians and South Asians from the late 1960s — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 215 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Designated enemy groups expand over time beyond their original definition #expands (0.90) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3966
• Terrorism racialization evolved from Arabs to Iranians and South Asians from the late 1960s #exemplifies (0.88) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 215
• The Racial Muslim category shifts over time to serve state interests #corroborates (0.82)
• The objective-enemy category permanently renews terror as targets shift across categories #expands (0.80)
• The US government shifted Syrians’ racial classification within a decade #exemplifies (0.72)