The Mythical Terrorist

September 11^th, 2001 was a day that changed America. That morning terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center towers in New York City by crashing hijacked airplanes into the towers. Another hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. There was a fourth plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when passengers attempted to overtake the plane from the terrorists. On September 16^th 2001 Dick Cheney was interviewed by Tim Russert at Camp David. On September 20^th 2001 President George W. Bush gave a speech to congress about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Both the president and the Vice President created a mythical terrorist in their responses to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One facet of social identity at work in this myth is race.

It is clear that the mythical terrorist portrayed as a certain race. The terrorist according to Bush and Cheney are Arab and Islamic extremists. Both Bush and Cheney stress that the enemy is not Muslims or Arabs. George Bush said that “The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends”.  Dick Cheney stated that “this is by no means a war against Islam. We’ve got a great many Arab Americans, for example, who are first class, loyal American citizens” The fact that they stress that not ALL Arabs and Muslims are the enemy suggests that the stereotypical terrorist is an Arab and a Muslim.

Dick Cheney refers to the terrorists as barbarians. Cheney said “I think the world will understand what we have here are a group of barbarians, that threaten all of us”. A barbarian refers to somebody that is uncivilized and unintelligent. Barbarians are cruel and insensitive to others.

The terrorist that was specifically mentioned by both Bush and Cheney was Osama Bin Laden.  Osama Bin Laden is the person that comes to mind when most Americans picture the terrorist. Bin Laden is an Arab man with a long disheveled beard that wears a turban, and robes. For a period of time after 9/11 and perhaps still many Americans were distrusting of and hateful towards anybody that fit this image. There was a belief that anybody that wore a turban on an airplane after 9/11 was going to try to hijack the plan. After 9/11 many Arab Americans and Muslims were subject to hate crimes because they fit the stereotype of what a terrorist should be.

The mythical terrorist as constructed after 9/11 is always a Muslim man. Bush and Cheney tried to stress that not all Muslims are the enemy. Bush stated that “The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam”. Cheney shared similar sentiments as the President “The President has been very clear, and it would be a huge mistake for we as Americans that this represents some kind of – or should lead us to some kind of commendation of Islam. It’s clearly not the case. This is a perversion, if you will, of some of these religious beliefs by an extremist group. We have extremists associated with, you know, every imaginable religion in the world.” The president and vice president also state that the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks

The stereotypical terrorist is an Arab man. This man is an Islamic extremist. The mythical terrorist wear’s robes, a turban and have long scraggly beards. He also lives in a cave. The mythical terrorist doesn't own a television or a computer. This is clearly dis-proven by this blog post. The Norway terrorist attacks in 2011 also contradict the mythical terrorist.

Racial Stereotypes in The Longest Yard

            In Living Color: Race and American Culture by Michael Omi explores racism and racial stereotypes in American popular culture.  One of the stereotypes that Omi mentions is a stereotype of black men being physically strong but dimwitted. Omi supported his claim of this racially stereotype with a quote from Al Campanis former vice president of player personnel for the Los Angeles Dodgers on why there were not black managers in baseball at the time, “I truly believe that (blacks) may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say field manager or perhaps a general manager.” Campanis argued “They are gifted with great musculature and various other things. They’re fleet of foot. And this is why there are a lot of black major league ball players. Now as far as having the background to become club presidents,or presidents of a bank. I don’t know.” This racial stereotype has been played out time and time again in movies and television shows. The stereotype of the physically strong but dimwitted black man is displayed in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard.

            In The Longest Yard former professional quarterback Paul Crewe is sentenced to jail time for drunk driving and belligerent behavior. Upon his arrival at the correctional facility Crewe learns that the warden has a semi-pro football team. The players on this football team are former college football players that became prison guards to play for the team. The warden pulled some strings to get Crewe sent to his prison with hopes that Crewe could help make his football team better. Crewe  tells the warden that in college they would have a “warmup game” against inferior competition to get the teams confidence higher. The Warden likes this idea and makes Crewe assemble a team of prisoners to face the guards in a game to raise the guards’ confidence.

The character in The Longest Yard that embodies the physically strong dimwitted black man is Switowski. Switowski is played by former MMA fighter Bob Sapp. Switowski is 7 feet tall and incredibly strong. The first time that we are introduced to Switowski he is lifting a bleacher filled with other prisoners. After witnessing his strength, Paul Crewe and his best friend Caretaker recruit Switowski to join their football team. When Crewe and Caretaker are recruiting Switowski it is fairly evident that he is not very intelligent. Switowski’s intelligence level and mannerisms are very similar to those of a child. When they are recruiting Switowski for the team it is revealed that he doesn’t know how to read. Switowki asks Crewe and Caretaker “Will you teach me to football?” The two men agree to teach Switowski “to football” and join the team, he becomes so excited and happy that he gives Caretaker a hug and lifts him right of the ground with ease.  Switowski is portrayed as a very childlike character throughout the movie. Switowski speaks in a very child like uneducated manner. During football practice Switowski is kicked in the helmet by a teammate which breaks his nose. Switowski starts crying and yells “He brokeded my nose!” he then tells Crewe “I don’t wanna play anymore.” Crowe is able to calm Switowski down and reset his nose. After Caretaker tells Switowski his nose looks like a young Michael Jackson’s he exclaims “I love little Michael!” In this situation Switowski’s mood quickly shifted from crying and upset to happy and excited, like a young child. In one scene Switowski is eating cake with his hands like a child would do at their birthday party.

Switowski’s size and brute physical strength make him a very important player on the team. Swikowski is easily the strongest player on the football team. During the game when one of the guards is talking trash to one of Switowski’s teammates. Switowski’s teammate tells him the racist things that the guard had said earlier in the movie and Switowski becomes enraged. On the next play Switowski hits the guard so hard that the guard shits his pants.

Switowski is a perfect representation of the stereotypical physically strong yet dimwitted black man. The Longest Yard is not the only movie that employs the stereotype. Another movie that relayed on this stereotype was the Green Mile. This is just one of the many racial stereotypes that are prevalent in American  popular culture.