17 years ago, I dropped off my daughter at daycare and was on my way to class at university. On the radio they were talking about a tower burning in NY, it was all so surreal. Then right before I parked the car, they said there was another plane. I listened to audio of people /1
screaming and I knew exactly what had happened. When that second plane hit, I immediately knew who was responsible. If the father of my child had not already been in prison for his links to AlQaeda, I would have sworn that he was involved. I wanted to rip the hijab off my head /2
I didn’t want to be associated w those murderers. When ppl looked at me, I knew all they’d see was the cloth on my head that screamed IM ONE OF THEM! But I wasn’t. But I was. But I didn’t want to be anymore. All of our lives were changed that day. We all went through personal /3
journeys instigated by the terrorists that day. My journey began when the Dean of my Dept called me into his office to ask if I was ok. My ppl had just murdered his ppl in cold blood and he was asking if anyone made me feel uncomfortable. He wanted to make sure I wasnt dealing /4
w any backlash. The shock I was already feeling was now multiplied. ‘No, no one is making me uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable because people have been murdered. I’m uncomfortable because the murderers are Muslim like me. THAT makes me uncomfortable.’ /5
I marveled at how stupidly kind he was and at how shrewdly evil his enemy was. I felt sick as it dawned on me that they were no match for each other. It also dawned on me that I didn’t want to be Muslim anymore. /6
I wanted to get as far away from Islam as I could. How could I continue to be associated w a religion that I knew was ruthlessly determined to spread more blood? I wanted out. I wanted to be reborn, like a phoenix, out of the ashes around ground zero. /7 #NeverForget
