Racism After 9/11

When you see the man in the picture to the left, what is your first thought? Odds are, the first thing that came to your mind was potential terrorist, right? Now take a step back and really think about that now, why do we as Americans have that stereotypical picture in the back of our heads?

There is only one answer to that question, the terrible event that took place on September 11, 2001. At 8:46 am that morning, the hearts of many Americans stopped when they watched the North Tower of the World Trade Center be hit by a plane. Americans watched, helplessly, innocent lives being taken. Then not but 40 minutes later a second plane struck the South Tower, shocking the world yet again. 9/11, now an infamous date in history, is now a memorial day for the nearly 2,800 Americans that lost their lives that day.

Despite all the different theories, Al Qaida led by Osama Bin Laden was announced by the world to be responsible for the terrible 9/11 event. The Al Qaida and Bin Laden belong to the Islamic religion, which within the religion it is custom to wear a turban and dress like the man in the picture above. So just because the Al Qaida and Bin Laden dressed custom to their religion and were responsible for the terrible event that occurred on 9/11, many Americans consider all Muslims or Arabs to be terrorists, just based upon how they look. Thus creating that stereotypical picture in the back of our heads.

Throughout my research of this topic I came across an article written by Reem Al Zaeem, titled Arabs and Muslim Americans After 9/11. At the end of this article Zaeem sums up what she is trying to tell her audience, "If you don't tell your story, someone else will tell it for you. Therefore, a key thing that Muslims must remind themselves is: If we don't start representing ourselves, who will?" I agree very much with what Zaeem says because she, as a Muslim, recognizes that the American people see her as a terrible person, when she is non of the sort and has no connection or responsibility with what occurred that day in New York. So having no connection or responsibility with that terrible event, why should she have to pay the consequences? She shouldn't have to, but the majority of the American people are making people like Reem Al Zaeem suffer for something they had no part in.



Reem Al Zaeem's Article:
http://media.www.umassmedia.com/media/storage/paper445/news/2007/04/30/Opinion/Arabs.And.Muslim.Americans.After.911-2888759.shtml


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