The melting pot that is America shattered in 2001 following 9/11. Everyone that didn’t look remotely white feared for their lives, after all they wanted or cared about was the American dream.
Masked by anger and grief, numerous Americans got through the pain of losing someone by exercising extreme Islamophobia and prejudice towards Muslims.
In light of 9/11’s 22nd anniversary, we wanted to get a closer look at the Muslim experience post the tragic incident. Below, five Arabs shared their first-hand accounts of living in America during that time.
These stories are crucial to be told but they don’t begin to scratch the surface of what it was like.
Menna, Chicago
“There was a routine set for my week. Get coffee, go to work, and then back home in time to make dinner. I worked as a school counselor, where things were fulfilling yet stable. But things turned into an upheaval once 9/11 struck.
As I was walking one day to my white Chrysler, I froze upon the message spray painted: terrorist. It took a lot to disrupt my carefully laid out routine, and this moment disrupted my life.
Mohamed, Virginia
I had just moved to Virginia when 9/11 happened. I was working at an event planning company, and I started to notice day after day that my manager was intentionally overworking me– giving me useless tasks and faulting me left and right for no apparent reason, or at least I thought so. That is until I noticed that he started to treat all of the Mohameds and other Arab-sounding names with extreme prejudice. It took time for that treatment to fade and things to go back to normal.
Nour, New York
It started off as a regular day at school. Or just as normal as it can get considering I usually mark the entrance of the building with the limos dropping the kids off.
I went to a private school in Manhattan, so close to the attacks that I remember feeling the floor shake… the magnitude of an explosion that rocked the city.
I didn’t face direct hatred, as when you looked at me, you’d think I was white. But the reality was a whole other story. I was the only Arab girl at the school, the only girl on scholarship, and the only girl who took the train. Though I didn’t personally feel prejudice, that doesn’t mean my family didn’t. It was a debate every day whether my mom should take off the hijab.
Ahmed, New Jersey
Some say America is a melting pot of all types of cultures, but after the events of 9/11, it became more of a lingering feeling, difficult to latch onto, than a reality. As the reality was much more harsh, I recall I was still learning English, gathering things for my kids, when someone asked for directions to the nearest pharmacy. “Turn left, right, and keep walking for two blocks until you see”… the guy interjected, ‘the pharmacy.’”
I said “boom,” as back then, that was my way of saying “you’ve got it.” But I wished I didn’t even respond and let him get lost after he proceeded to say, “Yeah, boom, because that’s all you terrorists know how to do.”
Youssef, Pennsylvania
A week after 9/11, it was a normal afternoon—as normal as it can get. I was picking up my wife from work when a cop stopped us. He asked to see the license, claiming I was speeding, which I wasn’t. After telling him that I was obeying the speed limit, especially because my wife was pregnant, things escalated to a level I still don’t fathom.
He pulled me out of the car and cuffed me, taking me to the station. When I got there, I kept saying I wasn’t speeding, but then another cop came out of nowhere and said I must’ve been drunk, as he swore he saw the car swerve. All because I was a Youssef in a world of Johns.
