Two decades after 9/11, Muslim Americans are still fighting bias
As young American Muslims grew up under the shadow of 9/11, they faced hostility and surveillance, mistrust and suspicion, questions about their Muslim faith and doubts over their Americanness. Read the article from AP and Religion News Service here.
Shahana Hanif, a community organizer strongly favored to win a seat on the New York City Council in the upcoming municipal election, stands in front of her home in the Kensington neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York on Aug. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Emily Leshner)
A car passed, the driver’s window rolled down and the man spat an epithet at two little girls wearing their hijabs: “Terrorist!”
It was 2001, mere weeks after the twin towers at the World Trade Center fell, and 10-year-old Shahana Hanif and her younger sister were walking to the local mosque from their Brooklyn home.
Unsure, afraid, the girls ran.
As the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks approaches, Hanif can still recall the shock of the moment, her confusion over how anyone could look at her, a child, and see a threat.
“It’s not a nice, kind word. It means violence, it means dangerous. It is meant to shock whoever … is on the receiving end of it,” she says.
But the incident also spurred a determination to speak out for herself and others that has helped get her to where she is today: a community organizer strongly favored to win a seat on the New York City Council in the upcoming municipal election.
Like Hanif, other young American Muslims have grown up under the shadow of 9/11. Many have faced hostility and surveillance, mistrust and suspicion, questions about their Muslim faith and doubts over their Americanness.