story2456.xml

story2456.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I remember walking out of Chemistry at about 10 am and my friend Amanda telling me that the Pentagon got bombed. I didn't really believe her and did not know how serious the situation was. Then I walked to my Spanish class and we all sat in horror as we saw what was happening. I was so shocked and scared. The first thing that came to mind was "I hope the people who did this don't claim to be Muslim" because I am Muslim. I remember when the Oklahoma City bombing happened everyone blamed Muslims and so many hate crimes happened towards Muslims when in fact a White Christian from Michigan was the one behind the bombing. I didn't want to see how bad things would get if the attacks were by a person claiming to be Muslim, and i say claiming because anyone who would do something like this is in no way a Muslim.

As I watched the TV they showed someone jumping out of the window. I had to try really hard not to cry. it was all so devistating and depressing. For the next 2 class hours all we did was watch the news in complete silence. The hallways were very quiet. I remember hearing a group of senior boys asking eachother who there was 18 because they were all worried about being drafted.

I remember I had to stay after school for an hour for some activity. When i came home there were 5 messages on the answering machine. All of them were from my parents. They were really worried and kept calling to see where i was and to call them immediately. I called my dad first and he was so serious and quiet. He asked what took me so long to get home and if i was okay. I told him i was fine and was shocked to hear what he said next. He told me that i shouldn't leave the house unless i absolutely had to. I didn't completely understand why- I hadn't done anything wrong, but he told me how right now there was a lot of animosity towards muslims. At work people had been giving him dirty looks when he walked by and then they would start whispering about him. My dad was extremely worried about my older sister Anika who wears hijab (covers her hair with a scarf) and was currently at Michigan State University. THe hijab was just screaming "Hi, I'm a Muslim" and that wasn't something you wanted to be screaming at that time. I kept calling Anika on her cell phone to tell her that dad wanted her to keep a low profile and to come home as soon as possible.

I couldn't believe all this was happening. At home all i did was watch the news. I became very angry when the US starting bombing Afghanistan. To me it seemed that the US was just looking for someone to blame and punish to comfort the American people. The people of Afghanistan had done nothing. Only a little organization in Afghnistan was believed to have done something. I couldn't understand how after so many innocent live had been taken in the US, the US could just go and take some more from Afghanistan.

That night my family got a phone call from a family friend telling us that the house of a muslim family we know got shot at. I couldn't believe this. I had grown up with a daughter from this family and was so terrified for her. It turned out that some people drove by our Mosque and shot at it. Missing the mosque, the bullet hit my friends house which is right by the mosque. my friends dad was laying on his bed and the bullet flew right over his face.

September 11 filled me mainly with with three emotions: hate, anger, greif. I hated the people who caused all this, i was angry that i could feel scared to go to school in a country that i was born and raised in and i was greiving for all the people who died and their family.