• LeninWeave [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Everyone became incredibly racist overnight too and at one point the police department came to our elementary school and instructed us on what a Muslim looks like so we’d know to report them.

    Horrific racism aside, the funniest part is that this implies Al-Qaeda members wouldn't think to shave and put on a baseball cap (I'm assuming they taught a very specific stereotype of "what a Muslim looks like") to blend in before they terrorized a random American small town.

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Oh they told us that was a possibility too. One of my teachers gave us a whole lecture about how Muslims could hide among "normal people" and that we should be on the lookout for any anti-American sentiments. We were even told our fellow students could be "secret Muslims." One time a cop in high school cornered me and asked if I had seen anyone suspicious, I asked what he meant, and then he gave an example of someone wearing a turban. This particular racist panic came to its culmination with Obama's election I guess.

      9/11 was a really weird time for me, since I was getting around to an age where I was more aware of the world, but also the world was getting extremely weird

      Did I mention the daily flag prayers my school did? They did that. Just loop hands around the flag and pray for America and Bush.