September 11, 2001, the day I lost my son, Salman Hamdani, I lost everything. I lost my first-born child, and all my dreams for his future were lost with him. I lost my country and my identity. I lost the 22 years of grueling hard work to establish my family as Americans. I was stripped of hope and left only with my Muslim identity. The American dream disintegrated with the ashes of the North Tower, where Salman's remains were found in 34 pieces. And America changed forever. Two years later, my husband died of cancer, having lost the will to live.
Suspicion was cast on the selfless, heroic actions of my son, who responded to the call of duty voluntarily to rescue his fellow citizens because of his Muslim faith and his loving heart. Ten years later, anti-Muslim sentiment has permeated and saturated the rhetoric of the masses, as was evident from the ninth anniversary and the furor over the Park51 issue. Bigotry and malice reared its ugly Medusa-like head, inciting violence that culminated in the stabbing of a Muslim taxi driver in Manhattan. Politicians exploited the issue for their own personal agendas.
The egregious Patriot Act was passed hurriedly after 9/11, thus deeply wounding the rule of law nationally. Fear gripped the nation and divided us once again into "us vs. them," them being the American Muslims, Arab-Americans and South Asians. Some politicians did not hesitate to say that US Marines "will gladly help American Muslims to go meet their God." Another congressman, is bent on holding the Muslim community responsible for the acts of foreign terrorists.
As a nation, we have lost all moral standing in the world. If the shame of Abu Ghraib and Fallujah was not enough to disgrace us, the existence of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay testifies to how much we respect human rights and our own American core values of liberty and justice for all. Between the Patriot Act and Gitmo there are no boundaries of justice and fairness that we, as a supposedly law-abiding nation, have not violated.
After 9/11, America embarked on a path of revenge and vendetta. We shed the blood of thousands of innocent Afghans and Iraqis. Our gallant troops died in thousands avenging Salman's death and the deaths of every precious soul we lost on 9/11. Who benefited? What did we gain? A decade of wars and destruction has proven that this was the wrong course.
It is time we change the course and give humanity a chance to redeem itself. President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a symbolic gesture of what the world is expecting of the US.
On the international front, we must end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and bring our troops home. On the national front, we must close down the Guantánamo Bay detention center, repeal the Patriot Act, restore the rule of law and safeguard the civil liberties of American Muslims, Arab-Americans and South Asians.
The Pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution, but two centuries later we are metamorphosing into a society racked with racism and injustice, a society that preaches antagonism against people from a culture we don't understand. The American Muslims have carried the 9/11 cross for a decade, and we refuse to carry it any more.
Nearly three thousand Americans were killed on 9/11/01. They were casualties of 9/11 simply for being Americans, casualties of hatred and intolerance. Now we as a nation have adopted the same mind-set. The first responders who rushed to rescue them transcended the barriers of race, faith and ethnicity. As a tribute to all those that died that day, we need to transcend these barriers as well and reset our moral compass. We need to redeem the dignity of the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
Michael Smerconish: Gaining Inspiration From Flight 93 Crash Site
John Backman: A Faith That Can Change Is A Faith That Lasts
Eliot Daley: Can 9/11 Prompt a More Peaceful World?
Nidhal Guessoum: Surveying U.S. and French Muslims
That should keep us there for the next hundred years.
Wait and see.
I’m truly sorry for the loss of your son, if there can be any solace in his death is that he valiantly gave his life to try and save others. His death and everyone else’s that day was a tragic and senseless loss.
However, there are several things in your article that I take issue with:
Ref Park 51: Attempting to build a Mosque so close to ground zero is callous, shameful and unnecessary.
AntiMuslim violence in America since 9/11 has been extremely low. However, you fail to mention all the Islamic acts of violence or attempted acts since 9/11. Here is a list if you aren’t aware:
http://www.watson37.com/-Misunderstanders--Roster.html
We are at war with an unconventional non-state sponsored enemy who hides behind the cloak of religion and within many civilian populations. Without the Patriot act we would be at an extreme disadvantage against them.
I do not recall any politician making the claim you state; however as a retired Marine that is the exact sentiment we have.
In Fallujah we rooted out hard core insurgents and gave it back to the Iraqis, we also demolished several execution studios where dozens if not hundreds of people were filmed having there heads cut off. Obama hasn’t closed GITMO yet so that should tell you something.
Maybe if American Muslims showed some outrage when acts of Islamic terror are committed or attempted you might have a little more support; but they don't.
Don't even perpetuate that lie. Nothing was avenged. We did exactly what the terrorists wanted us to do.
I googled this quote, exactly as you wrote it, and came back with exactly zero references except for your article. Would you mind enlightening us on exactly who said it and when?
As far as intolerance goes, as a country, the citizenry has, by and large, taken pains not to persecute American Muslims for the events of 9/11. There will always be a few crazies, such as Michael Enright in the case you referenced with the stabbed cab driver. Even at the height of anti-Muslim sentiment, in 2002, there were only slightly more crimes strictly defined as "hate crimes" against Muslims in America than there were against Jews and Homosexuals.
I'm sorry about your son.
Until that happens, I am depending on those like my son--a Navy medic with th Marine Corps to keep you safe as well as myself.
911 was a lie
in so many ways
open your eyes
Like Truth/Beauty, Justice/Revenge lies in the mind/eye of the beholder - depending on our
"moral compass"
JUSTICE has real CLOSURE. You hurt me, I seek compensation, you give it, it all finishes. JUSTICE seeks a POSITIVE OUTCOME for SELF - but, NOT by hurting/harming/destroying you in order to get it. JUSTICE seeks to FREE BOTH PARTIES from the past.
JUSTICE clears the "soul". REVENGE consumes the "soul".
REVENGE keeps on going , gets recycled, keeps repeating. You hurt me, I'll hurt you back. You have big stick - I have bigger stick. You punch hard - I'll punch harder. I get nasty, you get nastier. I "win" - you make sure I "Lose".
REVENGE entraps EVERYONE in a never-ending cycle of darkness / negativity.
Never any "finish" or "closure".
REVENGE seeks to gain power via hurt, harm and destruction and abuse. These ARE the outcomes which revenge intends.
REVENGE sees only with one-eye-open. Revenge, like greed, hatred, jealousy, extreme fear - sees with one-eye-blind. JUSTICE seeks to see with both-eyes-wide-open.
We'll all decide for ourselves where Justice or Revenge have been over the past 10 years.
But, importantly now, let's decide / choose where we place our "moral compasses" for the FUTURE. IF we keep them where they've primarily been for the past 10 years, then we're unequivocably dooming ourselves / the planet to a truly bleak. dark, horrible future.
Ms. Hamdani, you sure are asking for a LOT! Do you know where you are??? I mean, look at the world objectively:
Every scientist tells us that race does not exist, that we are all "black" African under the skin and lived in Africa just 2000 generations ago. That, however, does not stop us from pretending that race really does exist. And this fantasy is far worse in Eastern Europe and in parts of Belfast (the belief that there are two races, one Catholic RACE and one Protestant RACE).
With this in mind, you honestly expect that humans, who are so closely related to each other that Hillary Clinton and Clarence Thomas could be "DNA" first cousins, will heed your request to "transcend these barriers?"
Talat, I admire your courage. But, we humans are "institutional crazy." It aint goin to happen!
The main reason we mourn today is because 9/11 was an attack on US. Had this attack been waged on Japan or China or Europe, we would not be crying. 9/11 may transcend (in the word of the delusional) "race" and and religion. That's why we mourn...Because WE were hurt. However, "resetting our moral compass" means understanding and embracing that we are all one, single family.
That will never happen.
--What are you looking for, Hodja ?' they asked.
--`I lost a gold coin.' The Hodja said.
--`Nasreddin, did you lose your coin here?'
-- `No, I lost it in that back alley over there.'
-- `Then why are you looking for it here? You should search the alley where you lost it!'
`But it is dark in there and I can't see anything. Here it is nice and illuminated, so I search here, where I can see better.'