• In Mesa, Arizona, Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, an Indian gas station owner was shot. The assailant then drove to another service station where a Lebanese-American employee was working; he fired shots but injured no one else. (CNN: 9/14)

• In Richmond Hill, Queens, an elderly Sikh man was beaten with a baseball bat; two others were shot at with paintball guns. (New York Times)

• In Gary, Indiana, a man in a ski mask fired more than 21 shots from a high-powered assault rifle at Hassan Awdah, a U.S. citizen born in Yemen, who stood behind a 1-inch-thick shield at 3 am on Wednesday. Awdah fled as the gunman tried to shoot him again. (Reuters/Chicago & MSNBC.com)

• On Friday, a turban-wearing taxi driver was attacked by a man who accused him of being a terrorist. He was of Indian descent. (Seattle Times/Detroit Free Press)

• A car rammed into an Akron, OH Arab-owned grocery store by Jack Oueslati. (News Net 5: 9/16)

There are dates where history and personal recollections intersect and are seared deeply into the individual’s mind. Kennedy, King and Malcolm’s assassinations are fused with where I was and what I was doing at the time of the event. September 11, 2001 is a date like April 4, 1968 or for those who can remember, November 22, 1963. “911” (as it is already being called) may be Black collegians’ first date that will be implanted in their minds forever, and hopefully there will be few like it. Add September 11, 2001 to my list as well. I was getting off a boat that had carried my staff to the notorious Robbin Island where South Africa’s most notorious “terrorist”, Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for 27 years. Upon returning to my guest-house, my secretary at Fisk called me via cell phone and told me to turn it to CNN.

I saw what the world would see repeatedly over the next few days: planes crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania as the world watched in horror. I said to my staff that the world changed today, and it did in many, many ways. My immediate concern was anticipating a dramatic increase of racially motivated hate crimes in America directed towards people of color.

The attacks of 911 set in motion a series of events that will affect Black college students for years to come. “Racial profiling” is being “green lighted” slowly but surely as a means to “catch terrorists” throughout the United States. Freedom of expression has been curbed at many levels by an increasing intolerance of any speech that criticizes U. S. policy. If you oppose the “war on terrorism” you risk being viewed as “unpatriotic” by other Americans. Bill Mahr’s “Politically Incorrect” TV show lost lucrative sponsorship when he said the bombing of Afghanistan was “cowardly”. Above all, students in college and Black students in particular should be aware that the First Amendment, while guaranteeing the right of free speech, clearly is limited during times of national crises, and that this most affects persons of color. Even Black nationalist groups such as the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad censored Malcolm X, when the Minister said that the “Chickens had come home to roost”, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

But we should not think that such actions are the sole providence of white Americans. Black Americans are feeling “patriotic” since, after all, they were killed on September along with whites, Jews, Arabs, and persons from more than 60 nations. I have heard college-attending Black men since 911 support the racial profiling of “Arab-looking” men since they “may be hijackers”. Such reasoning reminds me of James Baldwin’s letter to Angela Davis upon her capture when he told her, “Your struggle is our struggle, for if they come for you in the morning, they will be coming for us at night.” African Americans want desperately to be “American” with all the rights and privileges thereof, yet hate crimes have increased dramatically since the September 11th destruction of the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Furthermore, hate crimes have increased dramatically on college campuses toward persons often mistaken for being “Arab.”

“The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says it has compiled a list of more than 250 violent incidences on college campuses in the last week, from direct threats of specific violence to beatings and assault and battery. The number of incidents has surpassed those received during the Gulf War and the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995…’Nuke the sand n----rs’…and ‘Even Latino and African-American students are being targeted.’”

--- CNN, September 21, 2001, Racial Backlash Flairs at Colleges”

Even at “Ground Zero” the designation given to the toppled twin towers, racism was shown in suspicious glances being thrown at workers with dark skin as opposed to those who were white. This nation’s racial history makes it difficult for Americans to look objectively about how fickle the nation is when it comes to its citizens of color. It is an irony that Africans in America have believed the “truths” espoused by its great documents of freedom --- The Constitution and the Declarations of Independence --- are actually applicable to them. We have always believed that “all men [sic] are created equal” and that their “rights” were endowed by God. America’s white citizens have often practiced the exact opposite. Even after the tragedies of September 11, we see a schizophrenic-like quality to how race is played out even during the time of national suffering. On the one hand we see the Whitney Houston’s and Ray Charles’ renditions of America the Beautiful, climb to #1 on the charts, while we discriminate against African Americans at Ground Zero. We see Oprah Winfrey holding a fund-raiser for New York, while proclaiming Rudolph Guiliani “America’s Mayor” even though he showed racial insensitivity during the Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo cases. The nation proclaims its racial unity, yet shows its true contempt for persons who are not white.

And these events should not be lost to Black college students. They should be critically analyzing the curbing of free speech and the removal of barriers that protect them against the continuing onslaught of racism. Even The Boondocks, a popular cartoon strip drawn by African- American artist Aaron Magruder felt the wrath of those who thought his forthright commentary on the jingoism infecting the United States since September 11 was too much and was silenced in several newspapers. They should also be careful as they express themselves on traditionally white campuses, as they speak truth to power over the United States failed “Middle East Policy” --- the root of much of what is going on today.

Black students will be entering a world that will be vastly different than it was on September 10, 2001. They must be vigilant against encroachment upon their right to free speech and their continued opposition to racial profiling regardless of the presence of a national crisis. They need to be mindful that that the United States has been “niggerized” as Harvard Professor Cornel West puts it. Paranoia, fear of traveling, sensitivity to threats both real and imagined are obsessing whites the way African Americans have always imbibed racism in the nation. No such roundup of “Christian terrorists” occurred after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Indeed it would have been unthinkable for white males to be placed under suspicion even though Timothy McVeigh was the terrorist. Our national confusion about race makes it seem appropriate to target people of color whenever a national crisis arises. It is no different today than it was on December 8, 1941, the day after another “Day of Infamy.”

At press time, hate crimes in the United States were increasing geometrically, not only against Arabs but “Arab-looking” people who in many cases have been Puerto Rican and Black. Black college students as they were thirty years ago, must stand at the vanguard against the erosion of civil liberties during the time of national crises. If they don’t they will continue to allow the nation to be a fickle lover in its racial policies toward persons of color. Here are some suggestions for actions on their campus:

• Hold workshops involving U.S. policy in the Middle East

• Hold teach-ins regarding First Amendment rights

• Form stronger student coalition with Arab and Muslim students attending your college

• When possible, extend invitation to policy makers who directly affect our foreign policy

• Take a greater interest in American foreign policy and become familiar with its history of destabilizing foreign governments, e.g., Patrice Lumumba in the Congo

• Be careful and mindful of your safety particularly if you attend school at a traditionally white institution

These are suggestions for Black students to continue the tradition of their political involvement with social issues, and stem the flood of hate crimes resulting from 911.

Dr. Raymond Winbush is the director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University.