Layla El-Wafi decided to keep wearing the headscarf used by Muslim women despite the "dirty remarks and dirty looks" from strangers.
She also wears an American flag pin -- partly to show solidarity, but partly as a defensive measure: In the new war on terrorism, this city of immigrants has become a place where some fear losing the very thing many came here for.
"I don't want to feel that I can't have the kind of freedom of expression we guarantee to everyone," said El-Wafi, whose family begged her to modify her appearance.
"I'm proud to be an American," she said. "I hate to feel that people are counting me as `the other.'"
Across the country, reports of bias incidents against people who appear to be Middle Eastern have risen since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, despite appeals for tolerance from President George W. Bush and other top US officials.
Police reports of bias incidents since the attacks number in the dozens -- from anti-Muslim graffiti to a baseball-bat assault on a turban-wearing Sikh.
The backlash is mild compared to two killings, in Texas and Arizona, that may have been motivated by anti-Arab sentiment.
But Sikhs, Muslims, and other immigrants say they are greatly affected by increasing harassment.
"My business is down 60 to 70 percent," said Izmar Yalai, who runs the Afghanistan Kebab House in Manhattan. "They stand outside and look. And then they just walk away. I know they have anger and resentment. But we are as much American as any of them! We've been here 20 years. We are part of the American economy. We pay taxes and provide jobs."
Amrik Singh Chawla, a financial consultant who is Sikh, was headed to the Trade Center to catch a train when he saw the second hijacked plane hit the building. Chawla ran for his life, dodging debris falling from the sky.
Amid the chaos, two men chased him, calling him a terrorist and demanding that he remove his turban. He got away, but said he has been harassed on other days as well.
Chawla, who was born in India, has continued to wear his turban. To abandon his identity out of fear, he said, would be to capitulate to the terrorists and renounce the freedoms the US stands for.
"When times are tough, you don't give up and run," he said.
Akbar Himanii, a Muslim from India and US citizen who has been here for 20 years, owned a cafe in the Trade Center and feels fortunate that all his employees escaped unharmed. Himanii said he has been cursed at by strangers because of the way he looks. Still, Himanii said he has received 1,200 calls from people who heard his cafe was destroyed and want to make sure he gets government assistance.
Chawla, too, said friends, neighbors and co-workers "have sent me e-mails and called to say, `We hope you're OK.' I feel a sense of warmth around me." But, he added, "I'm also not foolish. I foresee that for the next one to even five years, times are going to be difficult for Americans of Asian descent."
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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