|
Arpig -> RE: In Memoriam. September 11 (9/11/2009 3:18:42 PM)
|
I was teaching networking at a school run by Muslims, with a 95+% Muslim student body. I was listening to the radio before heading to work when I heard about the first plane...at that time they still didn't have any details. I turned on the TV and was spell-bound. I called the school and they told me classes were cancelled...I watched most of the day.
The next day, in class, rather than teach the planned lesson we discussed what had happened and what it meant. None of my students in any way supported the acts, and they were scared, genuinely scared of what would happen next. They feared some sort of backlash, they feared anti-Muslim riots or pogroms....they were really scared. We talked about what had happened and how it would affect their lives, about their fears for the future, both immediate and long term. It was eye opening to say the least. The guy who ran the school (some sort of religious leader in the local community) arranged to hold a special prayer session to pray for those killed by the terrorists. I never heard one word of support for the terrorists, not a peep. In fact just the opposite, they were mad as Hell at them, you'd have thought they had been the target, and in a way they were...it was them who would have to live with the mistrust and the hatred due to no fault of their own.
We discussed the attacks and the War on terror on several occasions afterwards as well, we did it pretty regularly during our lunch breaks...they seemed to welcome the chance to talk openly about how it was affecting them. I remember one student, an Afghani who had fled the Taliban...man was he ever happy when the US went into Afghanistan, saying that all Canadian Muslims now had be perfect Canadians, better Canadians than others. They had to make sure their patriotism was openly displayed and reinforced. He was right, but it made me sad that these people whom I called friends, who had never done anything to hurt anybody were now forced to prove themselves daily for the foreseeable future. 9/11 didn't really impact Canada that much, yes some of those killed were Canadians or friends/family of Canadians, but not really that many...but a whole segment of innocent Canadians (and Americans for that matter) had their lives turned upside down, their loyalty and trustworthiness put to the question....they had to endure the angry stares and angrier words, the hurtful epithets, the threats, implicit and explicit, to have their children bullied and intimidated at school and in their neighbourhoods.
The Muslims of Canada were far more affected by 9/11 than were the non-Muslims of Canada, they are a group whose suffering as a result of 9/11 is often overlooked, and I was glad to be able to see it from their perspective.
|
|
|
|
