#Crack life campaign windows#

IвЂ™m entitled to anything here.вЂ™ And at that point, I remember having tears in my eyes. The agent вЂњjust looks at me like, вЂYou know, I can read anything on your computer. вЂњI remember being like, вЂHey, do you have to read that?вЂ™вЂќ Pathan says. The agent looked through his belongings, including the laptop where he kept a private journal, and started reading it.

He remembers the helplessness he felt when he was taken aside at an airport for additional questioning upon returning to the United States after a college semester in Morocco. Ishaq Pathan, 26, recalls the time a boy told him he seemed angry and wondered if he was going to blow up their Connecticut school.

вЂ“ VIDEO: Muslim Americans organize to fight bias after 9/11Д«ut being warriors often carries a price, with wounds that linger.

вЂњWe knew,вЂќ she says, вЂњthat we would become like warriors of this community.вЂќ Born in Brooklyn didnвЂ™t make me more American.вЂќДЄ young Hanif gathered neighborhood friends, and an older cousin helped them write a letter to then-President George W.

#Crack life campaign windows#

вЂњ.Flashing an American flag from our first-floor windows didnвЂ™t make me more American. вЂњFifth-grader me wasnвЂ™t naГЇve or too young to know Muslims are in danger,вЂќ she later wrote in an essay about the aftermath of 9/11. In HanifвЂ™s case, there was no blueprint to navigate the complexities of that time. вЂњWhat distinguished you as an American Muslim? Could you be fully both, or did you have to choose? There was a lot of grappling with what that meant.вЂќ вЂњYour sense of who you were was becoming more formed, not just Muslim but American Muslim,вЂќ he says. Mistrust and suspicion of Muslims didnвЂ™t start with 9/11, but the attacks dramatically intensified those animosities.ДЄccustomed to being ignored or targeted by low-level harassment, the countryвЂ™s wide-ranging and diverse Muslim communities were foisted into the spotlight, says Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. This stands in contrast to AmericansвЂ™ opinions about Christianity and Judaism, for which most respondents expressed favorable views. вЂњThatвЂ™s been one of the main effects in peopleвЂ™s lives вЂ¦ it has shaped the ways the community has developed.вЂќДЄ poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted ahead of the 9/11 anniversary found that 53% of Americans have unfavorable views toward Islam, compared with 42% who have favorable ones. There is вЂњthis sense of being Muslim as a kind of important identity marker, regardless of your relationship with Islam as a faith,вЂќ says Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at The University of Chicago who studies Muslim communities. In the process, theyвЂ™ve built bridges, challenged stereotypes and carved out new spaces for themselves. TheyвЂ™ve also found ways forward, ways to fight back against bias, to organize, to craft nuanced personal narratives about their identities. Many have faced hostility and surveillance, mistrust and suspicion, questions about their Muslim faith and doubts over their Americanness. Like Hanif, other young American Muslims have grown up under the shadow of 9/11. is on the receiving end of it,вЂќ she says.Д«ut 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. 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 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.ДЄs the 20th anniversary of the Sept. NEW YORK (AP) - A car passed, the driverвЂ™s window rolled down and the man spat an epithet at two little girls wearing their hijabs: вЂњTerrorist!вЂќ