The Exception to the Rule

Abstract

The unjust internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans and the detainment of Arabs and Muslims are representative of larger structures of racism in the United States. The state's task is to manage, maintain and, at times, sustain the racial other. As the racial other becomes viewed as outside the nation, the state can enact harsh measures of punishment, control, and surveillance with the support of the public. 9/11 reconfigured the racial hierarchy of the United States, which allowed the nation-state to dictate the behavior of its communities of color, informing communities about the proper ways of racialized citizenship. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, those perceived to belong to Arab and Muslim communities became transformed into an ideological, racial subject and are placed outside the concept of formal citizenship. Those who are construed as outside formal membership have their ability to perform citizenship reduced and the state sees it as its responsibility to detain the foreign insider/outsider.