re: #242 J A P

I’ve always been under the impression that they were plain old opportunists playing on others’ xenophobia.

I had quite a few friends and acquaintances who worked downtown and in other nearby areas at the time of the attacks. It’s only good-luck that I didn’t know anyone who died myself. One friend was out of work for months due to smoke inhalation. Another went into a massive depression. Another person I know lost several childhood friends because he knew a lot of firefighters. Many of them never recovered in some ways, however none of them fixate on Muslims.

There are regular people, perhaps some who already had bigoted tendencies, who have this hatred as well as others (the “professional” opportunists who feed it).

I had moved from Brooklyn to Jersey City when the attacks happened, and had I not been laid off seven months prior, I would’ve been in the PATH station at the WTC when the first plane hit. I think most New Yorkers have moved past it as they tend to rebound quickly, and in any event they’re accustomed to being around all sorts of different religions & cultures. Still, as a woman who’s identifiably Muslim because of her hijab, I can assure you that there are also “regular” people in NYC who hate us—not too many, but they’re out there.

I think it’s an entirely different story in other, less cosmopolitan, parts of the country. As I’ve mentioned before, I was born & raised in South Central Texas and spent my first half dozen years or so as a Muslim there. There were always problems. Weekly, sometimes more frequently. And this was before 9/11, so I can only imagine what it was like after.