lc_story113.xml

lc_story113.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-12-17

I was attending the University of Charlotte at North Carolina. I have since transferred to UNC Wilmington.
I was preparing to go to class, and I turned on the television and witnessed the events via the news. I am sure I was stunned as everyone in the world was. I went to class, and because only 1/4 of the students attending that day, my professor dismissed us.

My stongest memory of that day was learning that the majority of the Muslim and Arab studenrts at UNC Charlotte were being violently harrassed, so harassed many refused to come out of their dorms and apartments. White, militant, redneck American boys were attacking, verbally and physically, the Muslim and Arab community on campus, for unwarranted reasons, simply because they came from the country that allegedly harmed ours. The entire thing turned racial and illegal.

I do not believe the events caused great change in American society. For the first couple of months, the nation was a bit more friendly and open with each other, and wanted every person with brown skin dead. However, that changed dramatically, people began fighting with each other again, and it did not in fact reunite the country. I do believe, however, that the Bush administration has instilled more fear and paranoia into our society with false information about "imminent threats" from Saddam Hussein. Osama bin Laden is the man behind that day, but Bush has much to much invested in the bin Laden family to even attempt to capture him; therefore, he used this as leverage in order to invade and TERRORIZE Iraq with lies about weapons of mass destruction, which have not been found. I think Saddam Hussein needed to be captured, but I do not think it is relevant. He has been out of power since we invaded, and he was no longer a threat to his people. We should be going after the man who "terrorized" us. The only major change in America is that greed for money, oil, stock, and power has risen. Americans don't care about the Iraqi people, although they should. They have been brutalized terribly. But Americans don't care about anything but maintaining relationships with countries that are going to provide gasoline for their futile SUVs and countries that will be willing to work for their corporations for less than minimum wage. We may be the most powerful country, but we are still the most terrorizing country in the world.