September 11 2001 World Trade Center Attack
On this day in 2001 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, DC, and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Almost 3,000 people were killed during the terrorist attacks, which triggered major US initiatives to combat terrorism.
While these events were transpiring I was teaching a Unix class at the local technical college. I will always know what I was doing when the World Trade Center was hit. I had a Pakistani national in the class who was an amiable fellow and had been complaining about his inability to pass through airports without excessive delays because of his skin color.
We didn't get much done that day due to the impromptu television set up by the assistant director and everyone following the events very closely. One of the instructors was very angry. A number of the participants exhibited fear. There was an older Jewish lady railing against muslims saying how "they're all animals" in their typical grating New York style demeanor.
I did not feel it was my place to address her regarding these comments so I remained silent and attempted to comfort my student by softly saying a salaam alaikum to which he smiled. I feel this enabled him to sit back and calmly finish the class without worrying about others in the building.
I left the day thinking that we should not blame anyone because of their skin color or religious persuasion ... because this guy in my class was an innocent — and I was sure he could not engage in terrorist activity.
Fitting a profile does not make you a terrorist.
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