According to Aljazeera, the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 was a watershed moment in America’s relationship with the Arab world. Amid the grief and US military response that followed, American fear of the threat of international “terrorism” grew.

Bush’s so-called “crusade” against what he labelled the “axis of evil” fuelled suspicion of the Middle East as a whole, and as US military action increased and led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this fear turned into one of Arabs generally and Muslims in particular.

With the rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, and the way the mainstream US media reports on it, fear of Islam further increased, tending to demonise Muslims and portray them and their faith as dangerous .

Trump openly campaigned for a total ban on all Muslims entering the US and has since issued executive orders aimed at limiting the movement of nationals of certain majority-Muslim countries to the US.

Most Americans’ exposure to Islam starts with what they learn in high school

Most Americans’ exposure to the Middle East and Islam starts with what they learn in high school history class. World history textbooks in the United States only allocate around 3 percent of space to discussions of these topics. And the story those textbooks tell in that limited space is a disturbing one.

research on world history textbooks used across the country finds that sections about Islam and the Middle East advance a “rise and fall” narrative.

That story goes like this: In the medieval period, the Middle East was a flourishing and advanced civilization, but due to an inability to modernize, the region has subsequently declined into chaos, oppression and violence, huffingtonpost told.

American history textbooks similarly tend to degrade Arabs and Muslims by situating them as foreign and antithetical to the American national narrative. While Arabs and Muslims have been integral members of the United States since before the country’s inception, American history textbooks strip U.S. history of its Arab and Muslim influences.

These textbooks fail to acknowledge the significant contributions of Arab and Muslim Americans to all aspects of American life, from sports to technology to government.

Students don’t learn that there would be no Apple iPhones or Macbooks without the genius and innovation of an Arab American, Steve Jobs. Students aren’t taught that Muhammad Ali was motivated by his Muslim faith to dedicate his life to social justice and civil rights.

both world history and U.S. history textbooks portray Arabs and Muslims as the undemocratic and tyrannical people that the United States strives to defeat in order to secure democracy and peace throughout the world.

These textbooks are not neutral

They tell stories about “[t]he ever-volatile Middle Eastern pot” that “continued to boil ominously,” describing Iranian hostage takers as “a howling mob of rabidly anti-American Muslim militants.” This framing leads students to view the Middle East as a tempestuous, threatening and mysterious region in a constant state of turbulence.

These textbook portrayals of Arabs and Muslims are not neutral, apolitical truths.

For Arab and Muslim American students, using textbooks that portray them and people like them as violent and inherently un-American can have a negative effect on how they view themselves and their own communities.

Travel ban is the beginning of the ruinous consequences of Islam phobia

Since 2001, Arabs and Muslims in the United States have become scapegoats for the inexcusable actions of a minority of extremists who justify their attacks using the name of Islam. The persistence of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry and violent backlash since 9/11 prompts the question: how have these negative attitudes become so entrenched in American public discourse? The prevalence of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab information in educational material may certainly be a factor.

If we want to begin to combat Islamophobia and xenophobia, we must start with the source: our children’s education. American students deserve to know the dynamic and nuanced history of a region and a faith that have been misrepresented for too long. If they don’t, the travel ban will only just the beginning of the ruinous consequences of Islam phobia on this country.