Muslim Americans confront legacy of 9/11 Islamophobia: 'Unspoken tragedy'
ABC News
The 9/11 attacks set off a wave of Islamophobia in America that many peaceful and patriotic Muslims say still reverberates years later.
DEARBORN, Mich. -- Twenty years and 600 miles from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, the nation's largest Arab Muslim community is still quietly reeling from the 2001 terror attacks and a psychological blow dealt to Islamic American identity. "This is, perhaps, the unspoken tragedy of what happened two decades ago," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group of terrorists who claimed to be acting in the name of Islam, taking nearly 3,000 innocent lives, set off a wave of Islamophobia in America that many peaceful and patriotic Muslims said still reverberates years later. "People associate people who look like us with an event that we didn't create," said Rima Imad Fadlallah, a Michigan native and co-host of the Dearborn Girl podcast exploring Arab American female identity. "We, quite frankly, shouldn't be made to feel like we're apologizing for others."More Related News