Personal Narrative: Life After 9/11 Attacks

I was born on November 8, 2001, one month and twenty-seven days after 9/11. This left a cloud of ignorance over my head, and for that, I would like to apologize. Growing up post-9/11 meant that I only heard the word Muslim attached to the word terrorist. Muslim was the butt of a joke that I did not understand but yet I felt that I was able to make this joke. I was in fourth grade the first time I had was taught that a Muslim was not a something bad.

“9/11 changed America fundamentally, far more so than outsiders realized at the time. For Americans it genuinely was a new Pearl Harbour, an attack on the homeland that made them feel vulnerable for the first time in 60 years,” (Powell, 2003). The terrorist attacks of 9/11 affect America today because they instigated the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the “War on Terror,” and led to an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes. “Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush,” (9/11, 2010). The most noticeable of these effects was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Victimization After 9/11 Unexpected and eye opener was the tragic event of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Being an unexpected event it proved to the United States that it’s border control and protection were not at it’s best level of skills. Not only did it create awareness in politics but also in the society. The fear this attack created led to generalizations and stereotypes of people from the Middle East or people that simply appeared to be Muslim. These generalizations and stereotypes eventually navigated and made their way through schools and young minds, causing many limitations, struggles, and depression to those being targeted.

On September 11, 2001 it was early morning and I was sick so my dad had me go to work with him because my mom couldn’t watch me. Something terrible happened this day though. People were going to work to the trade center where my dad worked. My dad had arrived a little late to his meeting, we had both thought the was our biggest problem of the day.

The day was 9/11/01 a plane crashed into the tower there 's was black smoke everywhere at the time I was 12 years old. And I was surrounded by fire and my leg was smashed under a desk I was in pain. There were four other people that were not dead or passed out on the floor. There was blood everywhere I was on floor 77 and the four other people.

Tonight, the reality of residing in Hell demanded my attention. I hear frightening sounds of an altercation that is too close for comfort. I stand up, grab my phone off the table, and prepare to dial 911 emergency. My anxiety escalates as the commotion outside does. I listen for the gun fire I have learned to expect in these situations.

During the September 11 hijackings, the worst terror attack on American soil, hundreds of lives were lost due to lack of fundamental communications between officials. 9/11 was the largest act of terror committed on American soil in which 23 radical Muslims hijacked four planes. Two planes were flown into the North and South Tower, one into the Pentagon and one drove down into a Pennsylvania field. Many argue that if there were better communication systems that were put into place that many more lives could have been saved.. According to the Associated Press, “Sept. 11 was a convergence of the worst possible problems in communication technology—a jammed commercial network made cell phone use impossible” (Sharp).

examined and compared coverage of Muslims instantaneously after 9/11 and a years after the event. They realized that, uninterruptedly after the 9/11 incident, many Muslim Americans turned into the objectives of a backlash of fierce anger and a great desire for revenge (Nacos & Torres, 2007). As people perception of Muslims sustained to erode, Khan (2013) found an apparently counterintuitive incident that the passage of time did not ease the emotional injury associated with 9/11. In actual fact, the aggression toward Islam and Muslim in the US has touched a high concentration level that directs many to conclude, a years later, that Islamophobia is spread through public emotion in the US (Yang & Self, 2015).

9/11 will go down as one of the biggest tragedies in our history. On that day, nearly 3,000 people died from the hands of terrorism. It was a day where a series of calamites occurred. Four planes were hijacked by terrorists with innocent people on board and they crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. This is not only day that will not be forgotten but it is a day that has changed the world.

On the bright sunny day of September 11, 2001 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, I was a 17-year-old young man that was seating in History 1 class in Lawrence County High School. My history teacher walked in to our classroom as the period was about to begin and said, “we are fix to watch history as we speak, so pay attention.” I would have never thought that by watching the tragic events that occurred in New York City against the World Trade Center’s that day, would change the course my life forever. That day as my classmates and I walked the long hallway that entered the cafeteria, I seen a gentleman standing at a small table. The gentleman was very clean cut, slim, with a brown button up blouse on, blue trousers with a red strip going from his brown belt to the bottom of his trousers and had on the shiniest shoes I had ever seen.

The attack on the Twin Tower had taken the world by surprise. No one would ever imagine the attack would happen. The attack had taken thousands of lives and physically and mentally affect Americans. Furthermore, the bombing of the Twin Tower became a famous front page topic for newspaper and magazines all over the world. For example, an article in The New York Times, “Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon” by Serge Schmemann or an article from a Vietnamese newspaper, “Ký ức kinh hoàng về vụ khủng bố 11/9/2001,” written by Kim Ngan, which translates to “The Horror Memories of 9/11/2001.”

“Once you understand and appreciate other people’s cultural backgrounds, then you can also connect with them more” Either being born or migrating into America you are considered as an American Citizen. In reality are you actually treated as American Citizen? People of America tend to stereotype different races and cultures. However,America is full of diversity and multicultural human beings, but there is a lot of oppression against races or a specific race. Therefore, Americans should embrace being multicultural because if we don't embrace it then it limits how individuals of different cultures feel oppressed.