9/11/2001

The 9/11 attacks continue to be the deadliest terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in the entire history of the United States. Four planes were hijacked by members of al-Qaeda, and all but one crashed into their designated targets (the Twin Towers and the Pentagon). The fourth plane, which was intended to crash in Washington D.C., crashed in Pennsylvania due to civilian intervention. Over 3,000 people were killed (Bergen).

9-11-memorial-03-marley-white_08304459-fd51-e9bc-1df612407cbe64fb.jpg

9/11 Memorial (White)

Arab American Perception

Carter Goodrich: What So Proudly We Hailed (November 5, 2001)

Arab Americans had been prevalent in the United States long before 2001. Many Arab families immigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the words of the playwright, many "would have been desperate to assimilate and would have been quite good at it" (3)

In his article on the relationship between 9/11 and Arab identity, Steven Salaita explains, "Although academic circles and American society in total occasionally acknowledged an Arab American entity, the community was largely... the 'invisible' racial/ethnic group of the United States" (148). Before the 9/11 attacks, Arab Americans were barely perceived at all.

FBI 2017 Hate Crime Statistics

September 11, 2001, marked a turning point in the average American perception of Arab Americans. The FBI recorded a 1600% increase in hate crimes against Arab Americans and those perceived to be Arab Americans in the year following the attack (Padela and Heisler 284). Hate crimes against these populations continued to be significantly higher for the next decade.

Many Arab Americans have also shared experiences of regular microaggression following the attacks. In the play, Leila is shown to experience several moments of microaggression. The playwright shared her experiences of microaggressions on a podcast and said that she didn't understand these moments until later in her life (Hambley).

In response to these hate crimes and microaggressions, many Arab American families would try to physically show their patriotism by placing American flags in their front yards.

Impact on Teenagers

Video of teenagers sharing their 9/11 experience

Many American teenagers were getting ready for or attending school on the morning of September 11, 2001. The school year had barely started; it probably seemed like a normal day. As young people who were struggling to grapple with their own identity and relationships, processing 9/11 and the identity and foreign relationships of the United States was a big pill to swallow.

Of course, every teenager had their own response to 9/11. However, several studies identified a shift in teenage values after 9/11. Family, safety, security, freedom, and true friendship became more important to American teenagers (Murphy et al.; Roban et al.).

Impact on arab American Teenagers

"In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Arab and Muslim-American children often found themselves caught between two worlds — the American world in which they lived and felt a part of, and a perceived identity, marked with discrimination, suddenly assigned to them because of their appearance, ethnicity or religion" (Bayoumi).

Arab American teenagers had a wide variety of experiences following the 9/11 attacks, but here are some commonalities:

Microaggressive comments they didn't understand in the moment
Hiding or lying about their race or religion
Name-calling (Racial slurs; puns with Osama Bin Laden)
Experiences with friends actually being undercover police
Being stopped by police and airport security

(see Ahmad; Bayoumi; Cainkar)

Click image to read amazing NYT article on this topic!

Videos

Learn more by listening to some first hand accounts of the Arab American Experience!

Glossary

Islam: the world’s second-largest religion, founded by the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago; beliefs and practices center around two key sources: the Qur’an and the Hadith; An adherent of Islam is a Muslim ("Muslims in America")

Islamist extremism: “Islamists” see Islam as a guiding ideology for politics and the organization of society. They believe that strict adherence to religious law should be the sole basis for a country’s law, as well as its cultural and social life. While some Muslims believe this, many do not. Islamist extremists believe violence is acceptable to achieve these ends. Al-Qaeda is one of many Islamist extremist groups. ("Muslims in America")

al-Qaeda: "This international Islamist extremist terrorist network is responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Al-Qaeda is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks since its founding in the 1980s by Osama bin Laden and others who were involved in the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Their aim has been to overthrow governments in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the Muslim world, which do not strictly enforce a narrow, fundamentalist version of Islam" ("Muslims in America...")

Microaggression: "a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group such as a racial minority" (Merriam-Webster)

Bibliography

Ahmad, Meher. “To Be Young, American and Muslim after 9/11.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Sept. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/10/opinion/sept-11-muslim-americans.html.

Bayoumi, Moustafa. “Many Arab-Americans Still Perceived as a 'Problem'.” NPR, NPR, 11 Sept. 2008, https://www.npr.org/2008/09/11/94502832/many-arab-americans-still-perceived-as-a-problem.

Bergen, Peter L.. "September 11 attacks". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks. Accessed 18 April 2023.

Cainkar, Louise. “Becoming Arab American.” Middle East Report, no. 278, 2016, pp. 44–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44578073. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.

Hambley, Brynn, host. "Off-White, or the Arab House Party Play by Alyssa Haddad." Play-Mates: FInd Your New Favorite Play, Spotify, 23 April 2021, https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brynn-hambley/episodes/Off-White--or-The-Arab-House-Party-Play-by-Alyssa-Haddad-ev7bev.

“Microaggression.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microaggression. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Murphy, Edward F., et al. “9/11 Impact on Teenage Values.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 69, no. 4, 2006, pp. 399–421. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25123967. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.

“Muslims in America after 9/11.” National September 11 Memorial & Museum, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 2018, https://www.911memorial.org/learn/students-and-teachers/lesson-plans/muslims-america-after-911-part-ii.

Padela, Aasim I. and Michele Heisler. “The Association of Perceived Abuse and Discrimination After September 11, 2001, With Psychological Distress, Level of Happiness, and Health Status Among Arab Americans.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 100, no. 2, Feb. 2010, pp. 284–91. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.dist.lib.usu.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2009.164954

Roban, Whitney, et al. "How America's Youth are Faring Since September 11th." Girl Scout Research Institute, https://www.girlscouts.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gsusa/forms-and-documents/about-girl-scouts/research/youth_faring_911.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.

Salaita, Steven. “Ethnic Identity and Imperative Patriotism: Arab Americans Before and After 9/11.” College Literature, vol. 32, no. 2, Spring 2005, pp. 146–68. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.dist.lib.usu.edu/10.1353/lit.2005.0033.