Dangerous outsiders and exceptional citizens: being Muslim American since 9/11
This is the second article I wrote on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This piece, for The Guardian, examines some of the problematic ways that Muslim Americans have been used to serve the needs of the “War on Terror.”
On September 16, I will be part of a panel discussion on Guardian Live, titled “Twenty years since 9/11: What has changed for Muslim Americans” to talk about this and other issues. Get your tickets here!
On 17 September 2001, days after horrific terrorist attacks had hit the nation, George W Bush paid a well-publicized visit to the Islamic Center of Washington. At the time, vigilante violence was raining hard on Muslims and Sikhs around the country, with hate crimes already numbering in the hundreds. These included brutal physical assaults, several mosque burnings and at least two murders.
Bush came to the Washington mosque, it has often been reported, to stem the spread of such hate, and over the years Bush’s visit has been repeatedly invoked with near mystical reverence. In 2002, the New York Times called the visit “another anniversary worth honoring”. In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine labeled it “a show of leadership and support for tolerance”. In 2020, a former aide in Bush’s White House, writing on NBCNews.com, described it as a moment of “solidarity with Muslim Americans”.
The event is seen not only as an example of Bush’s compassionate side but also as a notable expression of American inclusivity at a time of crisis.
But if everyone seems to recall Bush saying “Islam is peace” at the Washington mosque, how many remember that his administration had already begun rounding up and detaining hundreds, if not thousands, of Muslim immigrants, often in extremely harsh and abusive conditions? How many recollect the hotline the FBI established immediately following the September 11 attacks which received more than 96,000 tips in its first week?
I was living in New York City at the time, residing in the United States on a work visa, and I vividly remember the panic and anxiety that so many of us had that any random stop by the authorities would lead to our detention and deportation. The government wasn’t even releasing the names of the people they arrested. That’s how bad it was.
In this environment, stories spread quickly, such as the true story of the Egyptian man who was charged with trespassing in the very hotel where he was staying and deported. We quickly learned to keep our heads low to the ground, our accents as inaudible as possible, our cabs and corner stores wallpapered in American flags.
In this context, which version of George W Bush should be believed: the president of tenderhearted words about Muslims (“Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads, and they need to be treated with respect,” he said) or his administration of merciless actions toward the same Muslims?
The question is larger than Bush and gets at the heart of what being Muslim American has meant for 20 years now, for the “war on terror” depends on these two versions of being Muslim – the exceptional citizen and the dangerous outsider – with both versions needing to exist simultaneously.
And, for two decades, this double image has been our Muslim American dilemma, not just because no other version of being Muslim seems legible to the public – you can be Muslim and oppose both America’s wars and al-Qaida’s terrorism, for example – but also because both versions of being Muslim have been continually co-opted to serve the needs of the “war on terror”.
Read the rest here.