9/11 Reflection

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This week's reading from Curtis focuses on Muslims post-9/11 and how the events of 9/11 influenced Muslims in America. I found this chapter to be the most interesting this week because I was not too familiar with how the political climate surrounding Muslims changed following 9/11. I was four years old when 9/11 happened, so I have no recollection of the event and certainly wasn't able to notice the change of attitude towards Muslims until I got much older. Curtis gives specific examples of how the U.S. government mistreated and accused Muslim Americans of being so called "terrorists". Curtis shares the story of a man named Brandon Mayfield, a white Muslim American, who was wrongly accused of being tied to the March 2004 Madrid train bombings. Mayfield spent almost three weeks in solitary confinement and other forms of mistreatment for a crime he had nothing to do with. Muslim Americans not only felt like they were FBI targets, but that the U.S. government was starting to target Muslim …show more content…
administration considering the comments made by the head of the administration at the time, George W. Bush, immediately following the incidents of 9/11. A week after 9/11 occurred President Bush visited the Islamic Center in DC and made the following public statement regarding Muslims, "Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America. They represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior" (Curtis, pg. 99). I was quite impressed with the support President Bush showed to the Muslim community and the message he tried promoting, but unfortunately this message seemed go unheard for many. People started targeting and harming those who even looked slightly Muslim and the U.S. administration continued to harass and interrogate Muslims at airports and in various