W&J HIS 336: 9/11 & The War on Terror Fall 2018

“The language of civils rights is one that resonates with the younger generation of Arab, South Asian, and Afghan Americans, who find in it a framework for linking their critique of Islamophobia and racism to a longer history of struggles by other groups in the US” (p. 81). This section of the chapter attaches the push for post 9/11 civil rights to previous struggles seen in the US by other minority groups, such as African Americans and women. Maira explains that, as a result, “the denial of civil rights to Muslim or Arab Americans thus becomes not exceptional, but yet another instance of exclusion from the democracy promised by the nation-state that has been experienced by other racialized minorities at various moments in US history” (82). Due to this history, fighting the post-9/11 violations of civil rights of Arab, Muslim, South Asian, and Afghan Americans has become seen by these groups as the necessary and historically effective course of action in attaining these rights. Mai...

What really stood out to me in the fifth chapter of the 9/11 Generation is the fact that Muslim Americans feared for their livelihood for good reason. They feared going to school, to the mosque, to the airport; they feared going anywhere that would allow them to be surveilled. However, they had good reason. There is proof of the FBI actually wiretapping phones and stalking Facebook and infiltrating protests to spy on Muslim Americans. The Muslim Americans who were usually surveilled are ones who were outspoken about any issue. They were in organizations like CAIR or they were in protests. The one man had a listening device attached to his car and then the FBI forced him to give it back. Despite the fact that this spying is a clear violation of the fundamental right to privacy, obtaining evidence this way is a violation of due process. It took until 2012 for the Supreme Court to decide “in United States v. Jones that the placement of a GPS device was a violation of reasonable expect...

The 9/11 Generation by Sunaina Marr Maira is a book about Middle Eastern, Arab, and Muslim youth as they grow up in the United States post-9/11. She talks about important issues such as surveillance, human rights, and political activism. There are many interesting aspects to this book, but overall it serves as a good way to explore the role of this group of youth in America during a defining time period. One important part of the youth activism Maira discusses is the stances on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Maira shares that there are students in the U.S. who are now expressing skepticism about the war, even when their parents may not have in the past. One student Maira spoke with, named Aisha, has a quote saying, “it is a common story, our parents were scared to speak up…because they didn’t want to be ungrateful to the country they came to as refugees or for economic opportunity” (168). I think this quote is extremely significant when pondering the stance of A...

In the 9/11 Generation, the author discusses the effects of the post 9/11 surveillance culture, and racial scapegoating. She analyzes these effects in an area that is supposed to be liberal and free from such discrimination, Silicon Valley. The area that makes up Silicon Valley is one of the most racially diverse in the nation. It is mythicized to be a place that has no incidents of racism and allows for equal opportunities for all races to achieve the “American Dream”. She goes on to tear apart this myth. She analyzes the wage gap in the Valley and its surrounding suburbs, she uses first hand accounts of time Muslim Americans had dealt with instances of racism. The individuals interviewed often make contradictory statements at first saying the did not experience racism in their communities because they are so diverse that did not happen in their communities, but then they would discuss times that people had subtly or verbally assaulted their religion. The idea tha...

            After 9/11, in the Silicon Valley area, there were economic problems between different racial groups. Muslims faced the most discrimination due to the stereotypes caused by 9/11. “Many Indian and Pakistani immigrants with technical and educational qualifications “came here to part of the tech industry, not for putting stuff in boxes” and “would come in” to work “as if they were officer workers in ties and shirts,” struggling with the downward mobility.” Even though these people were qualified to work for the upcoming tech jobs that started to become prevalent in the area, it was hard for them to involved because of the stigma attached to their culture, and even their looks. These people were considered “bad Muslims” and they were associated with poverty and often times terrorism. A “good Muslim,” on the other hand, acknowledged radicalized behavior and violence as wrong and fought for social justice in their community. ...

While reading Maira's The 9/11 Generation , the chapter that stood out to me was "The New Civil Rights Movement." In this chapter Maira speaks about the civil rights struggle and treatment of people who are Arab, South Asian, Afghan, Sikh, and Muslim American (among others she talks about in the book). After the events of 9/11, people who identify, have "characteristics" (racial profiling) or associate with one or more, or ones I did not list above, had their rights and lives threatened. This to me is an extreme of racial profiling because some, such as the Sikh Americans, were threatened for wearing headscarves and turbans (Maira, 78). However, the wearing of these items was taken as "potential terrorist" in racial profiling, even though Sikhism originates from India and does not believe in the same principles as Islam. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the Islamic faith is corrupted in the eyes of some (many?) American citizens. Another aspect ...

This film appears to place great emphasis on the victimization of the passengers and highlights the tragedy through very emotional and personal displays. For instance, this is seen from the start, before the hijacking, as the passengers make calls to families or discuss events coming up in their lives - such as pregnancy or an anniversary. This effectively presents the group as unsuspecting victims - several who were on the flight by mere chance. The passenger on flight 93 are deeply humanized in this film and become very easy to relate. This is done by displaying very basic, yet valuable, facets of their lives that are present among common Americans and that society sees worth in. This works to demonstrate to the viewer all that the passengers had lost, further showing the devastation of the hijacking. Along with this sense of victimhood, those on flight 93 are also shown to be heroic, brave, and rational. This could be seen with the first call made by a man to his wife, as he expl...

The opening scene of United 93 , in which the hijackers are praying, is problematic for multiple reasons. For one, scenes of the hijackers praying were quite frequent throughout the film. But, that particular scene feeds into the Orientalist Discourse in particular the media coverage, and pop culture. From which emerged a new identity category, the category of “Middle Eastern, Arab, or Muslim”. This is also problematic because it represents these radical terrorists as the face of the identity category. This scene goes along with Leti Volpp’s explanation of how “racial subordination functions: to understand nonwhites as directed by group-based determinism but to see whites as individuals”. Throughout the movie there were five separate comments made in reference to the weather or the clear blue sky of New York that day. This is caught my attention early on in the film because of the frequency of it being brought up, and also because it feeds directly into the clear b...

Although the film was about United Airlines Flight 93 and its hijacking, this film gave a very interesting perspective into what happened in the control towers of airports on September 11 th , 2001. It illustrates how the people who worked in these control towers just showed up to their jobs like any other day. They sat in a meeting like any other day, communicated with each flight, and went about their normal mornings. The normalcy of their mornings further reflects the theme of a blue-sky day that the attacks of September 11 th , 2001 came out of nowhere and they were unwarranted.                 Another theme that I saw in the film was the feeling of helplessness. When the first occurrence of Flight 11 almost crashes into the Delta flight and the control tower man watches as the dots get closer and closer together, his face shows how helpless he feels. He could only sit there and watch like most Americans ...

            Watching United 93 , I was much more shocked than I expected to be. As a person who has been exposed to the culture of 9/11 from a very young age, I expected to see images I have seen before. Yet overall, I found the movie to be somewhat more graphic, emotional, and disturbing than I expected.             One thing I found surprising is how early command centers knew about the hijackings. Boston Center and New York Center in particular were talking about American Airlines Flight 11 very early in the process. This was interesting to me because I think there is a perception that it was a total surprise when the planes hit the World Trade Center. Granted, it was still surprising and I do not think anyone fully expected that to happen, but it was interesting to hear how much panic and conversation was happening before the crash. The control centers knew the...