Legacy of 9/11

THIS weekend marks 20 years since the September 11 terrorist strikes in the US, which killed almost 3,000 people and shocked the world.

In the aftermath of the attacks, ethnic minority groups across the world faced a wave of hatred and bias. Days after the attacks, then-US president George W Bush voiced concern about a possible backlash against Muslims in the US.

In 2001, a Pew research survey found 28 per cent of adults said they had grown more suspicious of people of Middle Eastern descent, a figure that rose to 36 per cent less than a year later.

Even today, almost two decades on, evidence indicates that Muslims face more incidents of racism and hatred following terror attacks.

For instance, an ICM poll in 2005 indicated an increase in anti-Muslim incidents particularly after the London bombings in July 2005. In the week following the London Bridge attack in June 2017, antiMuslim hate crimes increased fivefold.

Despite faith leaders and politicians stressing that all religions advocate peace, Muslims worldwide have found themselves the target of Islamophobia.

With the fall of Kabul and the takeover by the Taliban, it is expected that Sikhs too will likely face a rise in hate crime, as the community saw after the 9/11 attacks.

The UK, Europe and north America, where Afghan refugees have been given safe passage, will rightly help them assimilate into western societies while letting them keep their identities intact.

Perhaps we can all follow New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s lead who said last week – after a terrorist fatally stabbed seven people – that no community should be singled out and blamed.

Her view, that the crime was carried out by an individual, “not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity”, can go a long way in fostering unity among communities – rather than seeing such crimes through the lens of any one faith.