20 years after 9/11, Islamophobia continues to haunt Muslims

Even as the country moved further from the 9/1 attacks, Islamophobia in the U.S. persisted.

Sept. 11, 2001, marked the start of a new era for Muslims in the United States. Shortly after al-Qaida terrorists attacked the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, many Muslims, as well as other Arab Americans, became the targets of anger and racism. Mosques were burned or destroyed and death threats and harassment followed many Muslims in the weeks following the attacks, according to congressional testimony from the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2011. Some victims were beaten, attacked or held at gunpoint for merely being perceived as Muslim, the organization said. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who is Muslim, reflected on 9/11 and the discrimination that followed in an interview with ABC News. "As Americans, as people who are living here, we were also attacked," she said. "This is our community, this is our country, and there were Muslims who lost their lives in those towers, who were Muslim firefighters, who lost their lives."