Aftermath of 9/11: A Different Perspective
by Jennifer H. Tan, Special Contributor

I'm sure the mere mention of 9/11 evokes weary and eye rolling sighs of redundancy and apathy at the present moment. More than a year after the historic event that hit the pause button for the lives of all U.S. inhabitants, many feel that they have moved on with their lives as they press the play button and pick up where they left off. However, the first anniversary of the attacks is an undeniable reminder of what happened, and the recent turn of events leading to a highly probable war on Iraq is just another devastating result of 9/11, or to say more accurately, an already inevitable plan of action accelerated by the events of 9/11. Before I digress, let's rewind the tape and look at the aftermath that wasn't widely reported and publicized to the public.

Aside from the canonization of the firefighters and police officers of New York City, as well as the relief funds and charity events for families of lost stockbrokers and business people working on the top floors of the World Trade Center, there was a multitude of neglected communities severely impacted by the attacks. Almost immediately, patriotic nostrils flared ferociously and reports of anti-Arab and South Asian American violence dramatically heightened. As fast as you saw those American flags being posted up on storefront windows, Arab-Americans, South Asian Americans, Muslims and immigrants as well as U.S. citizens of color were being targeted for acts of violence, ranging from being spit upon to being a victim of murder. (To view a list of Hate Crimes Since 9-11 Attacks, visit http://www.esrnational.org/discrimincidents200109.htm)

Media practically ignored the fact that the WTC employed many different people from many different backgrounds. When people first heard about the lives lost at the WTC, these lives were mostly those of middle/upper middle class business people wearing freshly ironed suits, working in high-rise offices. I don't mean to take away from the importance and the tragic loss of the lives of these people (and it is, no doubt, terrible and crucial to be recognized) but there is a whole other group of individuals who were also an essential aspect of the Twin Towers, but were not given nearly the same kind of attention. These are the people who worked at the restaurants, the busboys, the young man going to his first day of work at the WTC McDonald's, the custodians, the people of color immigrants working tirelessly everyday to support their families at home, and especially the undocumented low-wage workers whose families would suffer tremendously when they disappear and are forever lost in the ruins of Ground Zero due to lack of documentation.

Also widely ignored in the media were the Lower East Side and Chinatown communities, a 5 to 10 minute walk away from Ground Zero. The Lower Manhattan Residents Coalition (formerly the Lower Manhattan Residents RELIEF Coalition) (LMRC), who rallied volunteers to make door-to-door visits in the LES and Chinatown, reported that an overwhelming majority of the residents had not been visited by other relief crews a week after the attacks. Power outages and loss of phone lines were widespread throughout the community; many of the people living in these buildings were monolingual, non-English speaking people of color immigrants, who were in fear of their lives, afraid to step outside of their doors, uninformed and unaware of what was going on outside, and so they assumed the worst: war. A story that I remember from some of the volunteer workers at LMRC was about an elderly woman who refused to open her door; she had not left her apartment for more than a week and therefore was living with a scarce and decreasing amount of food and no interaction with the outside.

A few weeks after September 11th, 2001, I walked into my building as a piece of paper taped on top of the front desk caught my eye. Usually, a picture of the then very considerably used U.S. flag would have inspired me to keep walking, but this flag had something written underneath it: "Racism can hide in the strangest places, like behind Patriotism." Using the term "patriotism" as a way of convincing the public to sacrifice some democratic freedoms in order to combat "terrorism", lawmakers passed a 342-page anti-terrorism legislation in October 2001, only one month after the attacks, called the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA Patriot Act). The USA Patriot Act is a direct attack on the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. It allows the government to deny Americans of the protections of free speech, due process, a fair trial, legal representation, just to name a few. Most impacted by the USA Patriot Act are immigrant communities, predominantly those of Arab or South Asian descent, or of the Muslim religion. Since September 11th, the number of immigrants held indefinitely in Immigration and Naturalization Service Detention Centers without due process or a fair trial has horrifically increased; the number is not known because of the secrecy involved in these situations but it is thought to be in the several thousands. Many of the individuals are charged without evidence of "terrorist" activity, and are detained based on mere suspicion. They are taken away from their homes abruptly, often leaving family members wondering where the detainees are kept for long periods of time and, if there is a hearing or trial of some sort, family members are not even allowed to be in the room of the hearing as it takes place.

The current situation of the INS Detention Centers and the USA Patriot Act illustrates to me a striking and chilling parallel to the 1941 internment of Japanese American Citizens during World War II. The only difference is that American citizens were being imprisoned in the Japanese Internment camps, whereas the INS Detention Centers imprison immigrants; however, many of the INS detainees have been living in the United States for several years, working tirelessly to support families, in hope of achieving the "American Dream." Thus, the only difference really lies in simple labels: citizen or non-citizen. Any vague sort of association with "terrorist activity," without actual evidence, would be enough justification for indefinite detainment or deportation of a person. Conclusion: the government may have learned to become less public with its outright discriminatory actions but, ultimately, we haven't changed all that much in 50 years.

The present state of the world is one that requires intense scrutiny; we cannot solely rely on the local 7 o'clock news program to inform us of what is happening to our own neighbors, the very people who build the backbone of our society. Oppression is blatantly being played out right underneath our noses and we are being told to ignore it. We need to wake up, question our current situations, find out what is really happening and why it is happening, educate ourselves about the history of our country's actions and draw relations to the present, and inform everyone we know about what we know. We need to question the meaning of the term "terrorism" (the meaning of "terrorism" has been twisted and distorted in many ways by the government throughout history) and be wary of the abuse of the term "patriotism." These are scary times, and although we may not be directly feeling the backlash right now, there is no doubt that we will very soon. With the hovering possibility of war and the persisting unfair detainment of human beings right in our own backyards, soon is much closer than you think.