Alexis Gray

ENC 1102-0129
Draft 1
How Islamophobia is limiting the abilities of American Muslim doctors
Lena H. Sun, a health issue journalist for The Washington Post, exposes the effects of
racial and religious discrimination in the workplace within her article, American Muslim
Doctors Feel Greater Scrutiny, Even Patients Suspicions. Sun utilizes personal anecdotes,
statistical data from a research study pertaining to Islamophobia, and a short clip of Donald
Trumps viewpoints to illustrate how Islamophobia is affecting the way in which American
Muslim doctors are perceived. Lena H. Sun collaborated with Aasim Padela, an emergency
medicine doctor from the University of Chicago, to create an article that illustrates how
Islamophobia in the United States culture is compromising American Muslim doctors abilities to
perform their duties as health professionals. The article exemplifies the extent of which religious
and racial bias is not only affecting American culture as a whole but also the United States
healthcare system.
In response to the hysteria surrounding the Muslim population within the United States,
Aasim Padela conducted a research study within the American Muslim doctors community. The
study took place in the years of 2013 and 2014 and serves as the basis for the claims made within
Lena H. Suns article. Padela directed the study because of the growing presence of prejudice
against Muslim doctors within the workplace by colleagues and patients, both local and
domestic. The study confirmed that one out of four health professionals have experienced
religious discrimination during their careers; additionally, ten percent of participating physicians
said patients refused their care because they were Muslim (Sun). The author uses the statistical
data presented in the study published in AJOB Empirical Bioethics to illuminate how racism
against Muslims has perpetuated over the past decade and its negative effects.
The rhetor skillfully attracts the attention of her audience through the unique combination
of phrases in the article title. The first phrase, American Muslim Doctors Feel Greater
Scrutiny, alludes to the topic of discussion within the article, how discrimination is affecting the
way in which American Muslim doctors are perceived. Although the phrase indicates
mistreatment of individuals within the health profession, the phrase does not attract a lot of
attention because Islamophobia is not a new subject of discussion. Additionally, due to multiple
terrorist attacks such as 9/11, France bombings, San Bernardino shooting, the American people
have become desensitized towards events that negatively affect the Muslim community. Aware of
this, Sun effectively captures her audience by combining the phrase, Even Patients Suspicions,
to the article title. In doing so, she adds an element of shock because the issue begins with
American Muslim doctors and then is centralized around the quality of patient care.
The initial paragraphs of the article discuss how the issue of Islamophobia is obstructing
the way in which American Muslim doctors practice medicine. The author clearly illustrates this
claim by providing a variety of statistical data collected in part to a national survey, which aimed
to evaluate religious discrimination in the workplace. Furthering her point, the author states that
the data was collected prior to the running of Donald Trump for president in the 2016 election.

The inclusion of the statement about the GOP candidate is crucial in making her argument
because it demonstrates that US civilians were bias towards the Muslim community prior to the
racial discrimination projected by Donald Trump during his campaign trail.
The author incorporates the candidate, Donald Trump, into the discourse by embedding a
short video clip that exemplifies the beliefs of the GOP frontrunner. The video is a compilation
of short clips from both interviews and political rallies ranging from 2011 to the publication date
in 2015. The video shows animosity towards the Muslim community and inappropriate and
discriminatory rhetoric from the politician about Muslims abroad and within the country.
The author brings up the issue of the upcoming presidential election because of the language and
issues perused by politicians may increase the
The article was written to demonstrate the extent of which Islamophobia is negatively affecting
our culture. The author believes that the issue has perpetuated so greatly over the past decade that
the subject matter must be given more attention. Additionally, the author brings up the issue of
the upcoming presidential election because the animosity towards the Muslim community may
increase due the inappropriate and discriminatory rhetoric directed towards Muslims during the
2016 Presidential Election.
The author uses a variety of tactics to illuminate the subject matter, Islamophobia. She first
begins illustrating her viewpoints in the presentation of statistical data. The article then proceeds
with a video clip that includes a compilation of video clip responses by Donald Trump regarding
the issue of Muslims, some clips date back to 2011. The author concludes her article with
personal examples from doctors that demonstrate how racial discrimination has affected their
lives.
The author presents herself as neutral, whose sole purpose is to write on behalf of the Muslim
community. Her intent is neither to persuade nor to argue but rather to inform her audience about
the epidemic. Additionally, the author does not input any personal views about the subject
throughout the article. The reason she does this is because she is not trying to convey her
opinions about the matter. Rather, she is exposing the side that most Americans forget to view,
Muslims.
The author utilizes personal instances from doctor to create a sympathetic effect in her readers.
The doctors explain how Islamophobia has impeded on their reputation. The recent terrorist
attacks in France and Brussels have caused persons in US culture to create generalizations about
the Muslim community. The most prevalent generalization is in part to the rise and
strengthening of the terrorist group, ISIS. Ignorance and bias is causing unrational associations
between the Muslim community and terrorist events. For example, one doctor explained how
religious discrimination was ruining his career as a medical physician and researcher; the
discrimination within his workplace was so severe his coworker were questioning the intentions
of his work

Word Cited

Sun,Lena."AmericanMuslimDoctorsFeelGreaterScrutiny,Even
PatientsSuspicions."WashingtonPost.TheWashingtonPost.Web.30
Mar.2016.